imagine-nation

Main Feature: The strongest dark fantasy "BERSERK"
"BERSERK" by Kentaro Miura is one of the most popular dark fantasy manga in Japan. We bring you the latest on the first cinema anime versions of this lengthy manga series, which will be released soon.

"BERSERK" began appearing in serial form in "Monthly magazine Young Animal" in 1989. Some 24 million copies of this series have been sold in Japan since then, in addition to 7 million copies overseas. "BESERK" is a masterpiece of contemporary fantasy manga, which has been translated for fans elsewhere in Asia, Europe, Russia and South America.

The sagas unfold in a majestic world reminiscent of medieval Europe. The protagonist Gats is a swordsman whose weapon resembles a huge chunk of iron. He and his followers embark on journeys to inflict vengeance. 

Creating cinema versions of this fantastic world and the complex sagas which began more than twenty years ago was no easy task. STUDIO 4℃ Co. Ltd, one of Japan's most talented animation studios, responsible for masterpieces like "TEKKONKINKREET" and "Mind-Game", rose to the challenge. The history and art were carefully researched. An innovative combination of hand-drawings and computer graphics has been used to recreate dramatic combat scenes. 

We interview Eiko Tanaka, the CEO & President of STUDIO 4℃, as well as the director and animator, Toshiyuki Kubota, who is famous for characterizing "THE IDOLM@STER". And we also talk to Jay Noyes, who provided instruction and guidance on western swordsmanship for this anime version. Motion capture was used to recreate the awesome combat scenes in the original manga. The anime version of the "BESERK" series will shortly be released in Japan and elsewhere around the world. They are not to be missed!

Creator's interview: Hayanon, Japanese Science Manga Artists 
Hayanon is not your average manga artist; she majored in physics at the University of the Ryukyus. 

Hayanon draws on fascinating scientific topics and presents them in a readily accessible manner for children and the average reader. She is producing a number of series, including "Fantastic R & D" and "Rikeimangaka ni naruniha?"

Main Feature: A Role-Playing Game "FRONTIER GATE"
RPG (Role Playing Games) have won many fans in Japan. With the 3D CG techniques making them ever more realistic in recent years, and such finely wrought stories, too, their place is already firmly established in the game genre. A new title released in December, 2011 - FRONTIER GATE (For PSP) - is now drawing special attention.
Its differences from the standard RPG include the choice of your preferred partner from 15 characters which all develop in different ways towards 15 different endings. There is multi-play for up to three people and even beginners can fight mighty monsters with the cooperation of their friends in this game for both light and heavy users.
It comes from Konami Digital Entertainment, the company that brought us sports titles such as Winning Eleven and JIKKYOU PAWAFURU PURO YAKYU and also METAL GEAR SOLID in recent years. Why develop a completely new game with such a high degree of freedom? Why select ad hoc multi-play for the evolving online RPG genre? Find out the answers to these and other questions about FRONTIER GATE, a game that is said to take 100 hours to explore every nook and cranny. Here's an irresistible new RPG game!

Creator's interview: Usamaru Furuya, Japanese Manga Artists
Furuya debuted with Palepoli in the monthly magazine GARO in 1994. He wanted to be an artist after graduating from Tama Art University's painting department, where he specialized in oils, but it's hard to make a living in oil painting so he took up part time illustration as well before broadening out further with manga on the side while teaching art in senior high school. We introduce a manga artist distinguished for his vivid colors, fine detail and black themes.

Main Feature: BEYOND THE WORLD .hack//The Movie3D
The cross-media .hack series of videogames, TV cartoons, comics, novels, radio and more started in 2002. It all revolves around a fictional network game called The World in various time frames (present, past and future) and viewpoints (virtual or real). The various storylines also interlock in complex ways. Clarifying the whole picture is exciting, and that's why the series is drawing in so many fans.
The first cinema release now celebrates the 10th anniversary and the 3DCG movie is itself making headlines in diverse media. We have all the latest info on BEYOND THE WORLD .hack//The Movie 3D, which opened in theaters across Japan on January 21st. It is directed by Hiroshi Matsuyama, president of Fukuoka-based CyberConnect2, the videogame company behind the NARUTO action game, and expectations have been running high for its first, full-fledged 3DCG animation film. The star-studded team also includes scriptwriter Kazunori Ito of Mobile Police Patlabor and character designer Yoshiyuki Sadamoto of Neon Genesis EVANGELION fame. It all goes way beyond the TV and videogame cartoons to set new standards for quality and also an easy way in for people not yet familiar with the .hack world. Don't be afraid! You'll be amazed by Beyond the World .hack//The Movie 3D!

Creator's interview: Yoshifumi Hashimoto, Japanese Game Producer 
Japanese game producer Yoshifumi Hashimoto joined video-game maker SNK PLAYMORE CORPORATION in 1993 and directed the development of action games before moving across to MarvelousAQL in 2005, where he produced the farming simulation game Bokujo Monogatari, Rune Factory series and Oboro Muramasa among others. Hashimoto became operating officer of MarvelousAQL in November 2011. We meet this industry key player and learn all about the new shape of the company.

Main Feature: 3DCG Animation "BLACK ROCK SHOOTER"
BLACK ROCK SHOOTER already has many overseas fans and the TV cartoon at last went on air in January! The illustrations of the armed, black-clad, blue-eyed girl were released on the net in 2007 and shot to fame when an inspired musician wrote a song of the same name using the HATSUNE MIKU VOCALOID SOFT voice synthesizing software and posted it on the NICO NICO DOUGA site. More than 50,000 figurines have been sold! 
The big selling points of the animation are the 3D computer graphic visuals and creation of a story! We learn how the character was born through interviews with the people concerned, including Takanori Aki, CEO of Good Smile Company, the figurine firm involved in building the story, and Hiroaki Matsuura, President & CEO of pioneering 3D production company SANZIGEN. Discover all the secrets of this character that is fast becoming a major fad!

Creator's interview: Hajime Chikami, Japanese Game Prodducer
Chikami is the president of Experience Inc., a company highly regarded for its production of dungeon role playing games. He had worked at a series of videogame companies before starting his own firm. The latest products in 2011 were Labyrinth X-Blood and Students of Round. This man is hot in the videogame world!

Main Feature: Invigorating Action Game - BINARY DOMAIN
The same Sega production team led by General Director Toshihiro Nagoshi that brought us the YAKUZA videogame will soon release a new game called BINARY DOMAIN (for PlayStation3·Xbox360). They had been producing a Yakuza title a year until now but the last 12 months have been dedicated to BINARY DOMAIN, a dramatic Sci-Fi action battle between men and robots set in the Tokyo of 2080 where life itself is the theme. Both friends and foes use top grade AI (artificial intelligence) and the story development and sheer realism of the street sets are astonishing. For Nagoshi's Ryu-ga Gotoku Studio, it is all a big leap into a whole new kind of story. Gone, for example, is the use of real corporate names. In an exclusive interview, we ask Nagoshi for the inside information on everything from why they themed this game on life to what is coming next in the Nagoshi world. BINARY DOMAIN goes on sale in Europe on February 24th and in the United States on February 28th. Our reporters, though, have had a go already! Don't miss it!

Creator's interview: Hideji Oda, Japanese Manga Artist
Hideji Oda, known for his soft touch with intricate, realistic and yet warm pictures, made his commercial debut in 1992 with A DIFFUSION DISEASE. The characters of such masterpieces as Good morning, Hideji! (Ohayo, Hideji-kun) are often modeled after real people, ranging from celebrities to his own friends and acquaintances. We enter the world of a manga artist hugely admired for his attention to detail.

Main Feature: LAGRANGE -THE FLOWER OF RIN-NE-
Following the huge successes of MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM and NEON GENESIS EVANGELION, we focus this time on the latest next-generation, totally new robot TV animation, Lagrange - The Flower of Rin-ne. The broadcasts started in January, 2012. The cartoon is set amid the broad blue seascapes of Kamogawa City in Chiba Prefecture. The heroine is Madoka Kyono, a cheerful and determined senior high school girl. One day, she suddenly encounters a strange but beautiful girl named Lan, who invites her to take a ride in a robot... and her life will never be the same again. The girls battle to defend the people and streets of Kamogawa against space enemies in this youth fantasy. The robots were amazingly designed by car designers of the Nissan Motor Company! More than 60 car designers and modelers submitted works and the winners were used in the animation. It is a stylish, gag-filled cartoon made through cooperation across industrial sectors, a collaboration between Japan's famous animation and car industries! What chemical reaction will this now produce?

Creator's interview: Hiroyuki Goto, Japanese Game Creator
Goto joined Namco in 1999, where he designed the innovative hit word puzzle game Kotoba no Puzzle Mojipittan. His unusual resume also includes the world record for reciting pi from memory - to 42,195 decimal places! He currently creates games for Kayac.

Main Feature: Popular Japanese Manga "MOONLIGHT MILE"
Yasuo Ohtagaki came up to Tokyo at the age of 19 after senior high school to study under manga artist Akira Oze, the author of "Natsuko no Sake" and "Boku no Mura no Hanashi." He wanted to make manga love comedies and family stories but first needed to hone his drawing technique. The results were already evident in his debut work, "MY REVOLUTION." Starting out with serials in the Manga Action magazine when he was 25 years, his first long-running manga, "Ippei" - the story of a kind and hard-working police officer - struck a chord among male readers. Serialization of his best-known work, "MOONLIGHT MILE," started in 2000 and had reached 22 volumes by July this year. The near-future science-fiction manga charts the unceasing challenges faced by astronauts working on the moon to develop a next-generation energy source. Loved by people of all ages, the sheer detail, realism and artistic qualities stand out. When drawing a robot, for example, Ohtagaki creates a model first and makes sketches from that for total, realistic consistency. We report close up with an exclusive interview at his studio, asking how he came to SF, the sources of his always convincing characters in this fantastic setting and the secrets behind the detail and delicacy of his drawings.

Creator's interview: Ayaka Nakata, Japanese Animation Director
Japanese animation director Ayaka Nakata majored in animation at the design department of Tokyo Zokei University. She has been working mainly on TV commercials and educational programs since graduating in 2007. Her oeuvre includes "Cornelis" "The Needlework Room of Grandma" and "Yonalure".

Main Feature: PlayStation Vita
Two new game consoles, Nintendo3DS and PSVita_PlayStation®Vita, released in the past year have revolutionized the Japanese game scene with the spread of social gaming. PlayStation Vita went on sale in Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong in December 2011 and is scheduled for phased expansion worldwide. It retains the basic silhouette of PlayStation®Portable but with a new super oval design that's easier for holding. In addition to a touch screen, there's also a multi-touch pad on the back that corresponds directly to the display. The pixel count is four times higher than on the PSP and it has the first organic electroluminescent display on a portable game console. The exciting software makes full use of these new features, too! We report on the ongoing changes in gaming both at home and abroad!

Creator's interview: Masahiro Ushiyama Japanese Animation Director
Ushiyama had no involvement with computer graphics until he was forty. He enrolled for a 3-D CG course at a technical college in 1999, became enthralled by image generation and a video he made while still on the course was broadcast on TV! He set out as a freelancer the very next year, chiefly in animation, and his varied works have done well in one competition after another. We introduce this rising, talented figure now known as a genius of 3-D animation graphics.

Main Feature: Monthly comics HERO'S
The focus is on a magazine that a publisher launched in November, 2011 together with Japan's biggest convenience store chain, Seven-Eleven. Called Monthly comics HERO'S, its key difference from the usual comics is that it isn't sold in bookshops. Only available at Seven-Eleven, net shops and pachinko parlors through its own special distribution route, it is also very cheap at only 200 yen compared with the normal comic price of 400 to 500 yen. The content is rich even so with works by some of today's top manga authors. It is a whole new approach to manga publishing. Young people around the world are now looking to Japanese manga for universal entertainment and the young Japanese are certainly lapping this one up! Can Monthly comics HERO'S become the new global comic model? We examine the future shape of Japanese manga.

Creator's interview: Shinji Kimura Japanese Art Director
Shinji Kimura has been the art director for a range of animated films from STEAM BOY to TEKKON KINKREET. He has recently been moving into the world of picture books as well and his densely constructed images have been acclaimed both at home and abroad. Please enjoy the strange buildings and winsome characters of his endearing fantasy world!

Main Feature: Japanese Animation Director Gisaburo Sugii
With a spectacular career now spanning more than 50 years, Sugii is still directing cartoons at the age of 71. Involved in ASTRO BOY (1963), Japan's first full-length TV animation, he has gone on to direct many works of high artistic quality from NIGHT on the GALACTIC RAILROAD to Stormy Night. Ever working on the latest projects, he also released Japan's first full-length 3D animation, TOFU KOZO, in April last year. His new cinema release, The Life of Budori Gusuko, is now much-awaited this summer. We meet Sugii at work, learn all about this cartoon giant and look into what makes his animations so amazingly attractive. 

Creator's interview: Akihito Izuhara Japanese Animation Director 
Two short Japanese works were selected for the Berlinale Shorts at the 62nd Berlin International Film Festival held from February 9th to 19th. One was LI.LI.TA.AL by Akihito Izuhara, the animation director we introduce today. Set in the ethereal world of Vita-Lakamaya, it took two years to make and depicts this beautiful, chaotic place with the ultra-fine and detailed animation. We meet the talented new creator behind it.

Main Feature: "Creator's Interview Special <4>"

<1> Usamaru Furuya, Japanese Manga Artists
<2> Hiroyuki Goto, Japanese Game Creator
<3> Shinji Kimura, Japanese Art Director

In today's imagine-nation: we bring you, all at once, a special edition consisting of interviews with creators who are working successfully at the very front line of Japanese pop culture!
We've heard from them before, but had to cut them short. Not THIS time!
So stay tuned and listen in, we promise that your views on manga, anime and games would be bound to change.

Main Feature: Popular Japanese Game "CHAMPION JOCKEY"
The long-awaited CHAMPION JOCKEY horseracing game, released in September 22nd, is the product of TECMO KOEI Holdings, formed through a corporate merger in April last year between Koei and Tecmo. The merger put their popular titles together, offering new software that is sure to thrill horseracing game lovers. It incorporates Tecmo's Gallop Racer and Koei's G1 JOCKEY with the addition of a motion-controller that makes it all seem even more real. This is now the definitive jockey action game. Gallop Racer provided an invigorating sense of being at the race course thanks to its sumptuous images and very game-like systems. G1 JOCKEY was geared toward the more hard core players who demanded realistic jockey and other simulation and played for many hours at a stretch. The two games shared the same theme but otherwise had very little in common. How were they combined to arrive at the best of both worlds? David, our reporter, goes backstage to learn about the software development and try his hand on the motion-controller, which is claimed to feel just like riding a horse! We also consider the future of jockey action games.

Creator's interview: Sachiyo Watanabe, Japanese Animation Director
Japanese animation director Sachiyo Watanabe is not part of a team and has no assistant. She does it all herself, typically in pencil, colored pencil or ink, focusing especially on gentle, lightly humorous images of lovely children, animals or natural things. She says she fell in love with animation in junior high. She is now a true freelancer after working at studios in Japan and New York.

Main Feature: Extreme popularity Manga&Animation "NARUTO"

Imagine-nation goes from strength to strength as the program enters its 5th season with a fresh reporting team who all join us for this first program of the new series! The focus this time is on the massive Naruto manga serial that started in 1999 and remains one of the most popular titles in Weekly Shonen Jump. Naruto Uzumaki is a ninja dropout with a powerful Nine-Tailed Fox demon locked inside his body. He overcomes many hardships as he strives to win the title of number one ninja in the village. The battle-action manga features psychologically rich characters through their friendships, betrayals, revenge and master-disciple bonds. The TV cartoon version of Naruto began in 2002 and has been broadcast in more than 80 countries worldwide. Overseas viewers love both the human stories and the fact that they are ninjas from Japan! The TV cartoon reaches its 10th anniversary this year. Reporter Kei visits the production team for the new series starting in April to discover what makes Naruto such a great hit.

Main Feature: Japanese Internet Idol

So much Japanese culture emanates from Tokyo's Akihabara district! Widely recognized AKB48, the idols you can meet for real, started out here and have now added THE JAPAN RECORD AWARD 2011 to their list of major Japanese music honors. They have also been doing live shows in such countries as the United States and France as the international interest grows. The rise of idols you can draw closer to is represented, too, by the virtual idol Hatsune Miku and net idols whose popularity grows via Internet video sites. Then there are the blogs as well, some with an average 100,000 hits per day! One "underground idol" has even notched up 300 live concerts in a year and broken into the ORICON chart by selling her recordings herself. The idols are getting close to home.
We visit some of the latest Akihabara spots to see the spring sights of the Japanese idol kingdom 2012 and find out what is happening now!! 

Creator's interview: Tomoko Fuyukawa Japanese Manga Artists 

Manga author Tomoko Fuyukawa's works go out as digital comics via Sony Digital ENTERTAINMENT. She tries various ways to match her cartoons to the screens of ever smaller digital phones. Mustard Chocolate, a freshly depicted story of the loves, friendships and growth of a third year senior school girl who just can't fit into society, earned her the best newcomer's award at the 2011 Japan Media Arts Festival. She is 33 years old and a graduate of the Musashino Art University Junior College of Art and Design.

Main Feature: B-grade Gourmet Manga

We featured gourmet manga on imagine-nation in 2009 and return to the theme this year because the golden age of food manga has begun! Such works as Houchounin Ajihei, Mister Ajikko, Ajiichimonme and COOKING PAPA have gone on to become TV cartoons or dramas as well. Japan's fascination with food and cooking goes from strength to strength and the gourmet manga genre has diversified, too, now including everyday dishes, eating competitions and even a French chef who slips back in time to 16th century warlord Japan. And then there's the manga about prison inmates who fantasize about their favorite dishes without a single scene of real cooking or eating anywhere to be found. We cover the whole gamut of food and eating and discover new dimensions to the Japanese gourmet manga oeuvre.

Creator's interview: Takashi Kurihara Japanese Manga Artist
Takashi Kurihara graduated from the Department of Graphic Design at Tama Art University and debuted as a manga artist in 1999 after winning a Monthly Afternoon magazine prize with Anahoru-hitobito. His animated films include ROBOTTING (in collaboration with Kunio Kato) and Happy Bogeys and his first manga book, Tuno Byou, came out in 2004. Kurihara also took part in the Touch My Katamari videogame project. We profile the artist and his novel approach to animation.

Main Feature: Jewelpet - A Stuffed Character Toy from Japan

SANRIO and SEGA TOYS developed the Jewelpet characters for young girls in 2008. Aside from the main goods, they are also featured in a magazine published by SANRIO itself, some young children's magazines, a manga comic and, from 2009, a TV cartoon. The first film will be released in cinemas in August this year. It is becoming the next great character in the tradition of HELLO KITTY and My Melody and its popularity has also brought a sharp resurgence in visitor numbers to the all-weather, indoor SANRIO PUROLAND theme park, which had been rather struggling of late. The crowds there have risen 17% on a year-on-year basis! Jewelpets are charming pets with jewel-like, sparkling eyes and magical powers who live in an imaginary city. Utterly cute, they have grown to become SANRIO's best-loved characters in only four years. The eagerly awaited fourth TV cartoon series, Jewelpet Kira Doco!, starts this April, too.
We have the inside story on SANRIO, the company that continues to create so many well-loved characters, and take an on-site look at the cartoon production activity.

Creator's interview: Makoto Tsuchibayashi Japanese Manga Artist
Tsuchibayashi designed the character for such videogames as the Devil May Cry and SENGOKU BASARA series. As a creator working chiefly in the game genre, he must pay special attention to how the characters move and the poses they adopt. His drawings are fine, compelling and skillfully contrived to match each project in hand. The sharply delineated, stylish designs have won him many fans among both men and women alike.

Main Feature: imagine-nation Roundup 1 - NARUTO, Jewelpet, and HAKUOKI

Here's the first grand round-up of this year's programs. Our reporters and presenter Isabelle bring us the latest information on main features broadcast through May. Focusing on NARUTO, Jewelpet and the HAKUOKI series, join us for the film releases, animation news, game sale info, events and more, including items still not decided at the time of first broadcast. We visit new places, too, to deliver all the news.

Main Feature: Science Adventure Game - "Robotics; Notes"

Here's the world's first inside look at ROBOTICS;NOTES, the much-awaited science adventure computer game due out on June 28th in Japan! 

It's the third in a series of delusionary-science adventure games that started on PC's in 2008 with CHAOS;HEAD and then STEINS;GATE. They've since gone multi-media in comics, novels and TV cartoons. 

Robotics is set on the island of Tanegashima in southern Japan in 2019, when the so-called "augmented reality" is the reality. The main characters are the boy and girl members of a high school robot club who are trying to build a giant robot - but their club is about to be closed! The boy hero is a robot battle video game fanatic. The game joins these boys and girls as they follow their dreams and, through their combined talents, also save the world. It is expected to reach out to new players, too, by adding all the teenage interest of high school life to a science theme of making robots. 

Blue sky, sea, school girl uniforms fluttering in the wind... and what a big robot! The game's creators are looking at big international markets for this one!

Creator's interview: Ryosuke Aoike Japanese Animation Director

Japanese animation director Ryosuke Aoike drew eager attention from his debut work, CATMAN. Digital but with an analogue look, his cartoons based on clay models are being acclaimed at film festivals around the globe. Having directed the animation for Kamiusagi Ropé, a laid-back cartoon with animal characters in old-style Tokyo streets, he has also directed the full movie version.

Main Feature: Code Geass Akito The Exiled

The latest, much-awaited addition to the Code Geass SF robot TV animation series - the first part of Code Geass Akito the Exiled - opened in 30 cinemas across Japan on August 4th.

There will be four parts altogether of this latest version, a spin-off series from the popular TV cartoons Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion, and Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion R2.

Just like the TV serials, they are produced by the SUNRISE studio of Gundam fame. Goro Taniguchi wrote the new story, it's directed by Kazuki Akane, and CLAMP designed the characters for this truly all-star, surefire hit for lovers of robot animation.

Join us for the latest news on the hottest SF robot animation movie this summer straight after its Japanese release. This looks like being another landmark for the genre.

Creator's interview: Yoshinori Terasawa Japanese Game Producer

Spike was Yoshinori Terasawa's second videogame company after university. There, he has produced the mega-hit SAMURAIDOU and SHINOBIDO series and his Super Dangan-Ronpa 2 sequel to Danganronpa went on sale at the end of July. The original DANGANRONPA sold more than 100,000 copies. Meet the hottest videogame producer in Japan!

Main Feature: BTOOOM! - A Survival Action Manga

The survival manga BTOOOM! has sold a combined total of over 920,000 copies, chiefly to men in their twenties and thirties. The TV cartoon version is now due to start this autumn. 
We bring you the latest information on the cartoon, discover the real Junya Inoue - its amazingly popular but shy author - and observe his steady, painstaking work.

The story is set on an isolated island in the southern sea... a survival game where the goal is to use the eight bombs you are given to kill the other seven competitors and win by escaping from the island. And that's the only rule. 

The hero is 22-year-old Ryuta Sakamoto, an aimless, unemployed youth engrossed in online videogames who is transported to the island and forced to play. While fleeing frantically from strangers who are out to kill him, Ryuta realizes that this is just the same as the online game BTOOOM! that he loves so much. He has to use the different bomb types well and kill to survive. 

The game without mercy begins... But who brought him here, and why? 

The expectations are high for the cartoon version of this popular, ongoing manga series. Will the cartoon now also attract new fans?

Creator's interview: Dehara Noriyuki Japanese "Figurine Illustrator" 

Noriyuki Dehara joined an advertising agency out of university but has been devoting his energies to "figurine illustration" since leaving that first job. While working in the fields of ads, book covers and book illustrations, he holds four to six solo exhibitions a year in such places as Tokyo, Taiwan, Hong Kong, New York, Los Angeles and Paris. He produces some 300 new figurines a year. We introduce Japan's foremost "figurine illustrator."

Main Feature: Japanese Animation - CODE:BREAKER

The popular action battle comic, CODE:BREAKER, serialized in Weekly Shonen Magazine since 2008, makes a fresh start as a TV cartoon this October. Here's all the latest from the production site! The code breakers are secret agents with special powers who give up their own past and real names and are assigned to hush up evil doings that cannot be brought before the law. Original author Akimine Kamijyo's first work, Samurai Deeper Kyo, is number two in Japanese comic book sales in France after only NARUTO! Yasuhiro Irie, also known for the megahit FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST, is the CODE:BREAKER director and the KINEMA CITRUS studio of Psalms of Planets Eureka Seven fame handles the production. The staff are keen and this new type of action-battle cartoon is now all the rage among Japanese animation fans.
Battle scenes more powerful than in the comic! We'll tell you all the news!

Creator's interview: Tomoya Asano Japanese Videogame Producer

Tomoya Asano began designing videogames at junior high school and was already a busy maker by the time he reached university. He joined videogame company SQUARE ENIX after graduating. His productions include FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST and the Broken Angel, an action RPG for PS2, and FINAL FANTASY III for Nintendo DS.

Main Feature: Japanese Animation - JOJO'S BIZARRE ADVENTURE

The first manga serial started in WEEKLY SHONEN JUMP in 1987 and, 25 years on, the TV cartoon of this massive best-seller, JOJO'S BIZARRE ADVENTURE, went on air this October. Separate video and cinema cartoon versions have also been made together with several videogames based on the story but this is its first time on TV! The comic book version has since moved across to ULTRA JUMP and is currently in its eighth series. 107 volumes have been published in paperback with combined sales totaling more than 80 million. The unusual story is about a fierce family feud lasting more than two centuries and features a different hero and setting for each series. It has had a radical, pioneering impact on manga expression in everything from how the picture blocks are divided to the character design, uses of onomatopoeia and plot quality. So, how has this distinctive manga been adapted to the animated cartoon format? JOJO'S BIZARRE ADVENTURE has made various inroads overseas as well. We discover the key points and strategy underlying its first animation for TV!

Creator's interview: SOTA SUGAHARA

Sota Sugahara debuted in manga at the age of 19 and authored the computer graphic manga TONIO CHAN for two years for a weekly magazine. He has since worked in a multitude of creative fields including video director, video jockey, CD jacket design, character design, and 3D computer graphic animation.