Giant Gundam robot model stands guard in Odaiba, Tokyo to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the 'Mobile Suit Gundam' anime series

(Photo by Remo Camerota, July 11, 2009)

For a story on the Gundam robot creation at Odaiba go here. For a story on Gundam’s creator, Sunshine Animation’s Yoshiyuki Tomino, go here.

Giant Gundam robot model stands guard in Odaiba, Tokyo to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the 'Mobile Suit Gundam' anime series

(Photo by Remo Camerota, July 11, 2009)

Giant Gundam robot model stands guard in Odaiba, Tokyo to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the 'Mobile Suit Gundam' anime series

(Photo by Remo Camerota, July 11, 2009)

Giant Gundam robot model stands guard in Odaiba, Tokyo to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the 'Mobile Suit Gundam' anime series

(Photo by Remo Camerota, July 11, 2009)

Giant Gundam robot model stands guard in Odaiba, Tokyo to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the 'Mobile Suit Gundam' anime series

(Photo by Remo Camerota, July 11, 2009)

Giant Gundam robot model stands guard in Odaiba, Tokyo to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the 'Mobile Suit Gundam' anime series

(Photo by Remo Camerota, July 11, 2009)

Giant Gundam robot model stands guard in Odaiba, Tokyo to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the 'Mobile Suit Gundam' anime series

(Photo by Remo Camerota, July 11, 2009)

Giant Gundam robot model stands guard in Odaiba, Tokyo to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the 'Mobile Suit Gundam' anime series

(Photo by Remo Camerota, July 11, 2009)

Giant Gundam robot model stands guard in Odaiba, Tokyo to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the 'Mobile Suit Gundam' anime series

(Photo by Remo Camerota, July 11, 2009)

Giant Gundam robot model stands guard in Odaiba, Tokyo to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the 'Mobile Suit Gundam' anime series

(Photo by Remo Camerota, July 11, 2009)

Giant Gundam robot model stands guard in Odaiba, Tokyo to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the 'Mobile Suit Gundam' anime series

(Photo by Remo Camerota, July 11, 2009)

Giant Gundam robot model stands guard in Odaiba, Tokyo to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the 'Mobile Suit Gundam' anime series

(Photo by Remo Camerota, July 11, 2009)

Giant Gundam robot model stands guard in Odaiba, Tokyo to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the 'Mobile Suit Gundam' anime series

(Photo by Remo Camerota, July 11, 2009)

Giant Gundam robot model stands guard in Odaiba, Tokyo to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the 'Mobile Suit Gundam' anime series

(Photo by Remo Camerota, July 11, 2009)

Tomino was overwhelmed by the eighteen-meter giant robot during a visit prior to the opening of the Green Tokyo Gundam Project on Saturday. “I felt tremendous strength and power,” he said at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan last week. “I believe that the Odaiba Gundam will serve the same purpose as the Statue of Liberty — something to instill hope and inspiration in people.”

Along with its multiple spin-offs and films, the sci-fi animation is set in a period of conflict in which robot vehicles, or “mobile suits,” are captained by children and used as weapons during clashes between people on earth and those who migrated to outer space as a result of the planet not being able to accept further population growth following environmental degradation and damage incurred by industrialization.

Tomino feels this theme resonates today more so than three decades ago. “We are now facing many environmental challenges,” the sixty-seven-year-old said. “With this dire situation, we cannot depend on the economic theories and human histories of the park to work for us if we want to live for another 1,000 years. We need a new way of thinking.”

With white limbs and a blue, yellow and red torso, the robot — reproduced right down to its double-nozzle jet pack, boots and helmet — is based on the inaugural RX-78-2 Gundam, which is piloted by Amuro Ray. Since in the series he possesses a “new type” of extra-sensory power, Tomino feels that Ray is symbolic of the new leadership needed to take civilization into the next century and beyond. “He is a symbol for the potential of human beings in the future,” the director said. “Amuro was ahead of his time 30 years ago, and we can say that fiction has drawn closer to fact.”

Organizers are expecting 1.5 million visitors to arrive at Shinagawa Ward’s Shiokaze Park through the end of August to view (free of charge) the thirty-five-ton fabrication of fiberglass and steel up close and mingle at the surrounding booths and stalls selling robot models and t-shirts. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Green Tokyo Fundraising Campaign, an organization which will utilize the 800 million yen it hopes to collect by 2010 for such activities as the planting of roadside trees and establishment of lawns within schools.

“Mobile Suit Gundam” debuted in Japan with the 43 episodes that were broadcast between April 1979 and January of the next year. The franchise has since amassed an astounding popularity, as evidenced by the robust sales results for robot models, video games and compilation DVDs for Namco Bandai Holdings and its subsidiaries.

Born in Odawara, Kanagawa Prefecture, Tomino was inspired at an early age by Disney animations, such as Bambi, Peter Pan and Cinderalla, that he watched in school. Yet he was frustrated by their simplistic story lines. It was not until the work of Osamu Tezuka and his “Astro Boy” manga, which was first published in 1952 and whose animated version began eleven years later, that Tomino really felt that the craft had developed into something substantial. “It may sound paradoxical,” he said, “but the reason I was drawn to ‘Astro Boy’ was that the character had many of the qualities of the characters in Disney films. When I realized this, I felt a great amount of frustration because I had fallen in love with something created by the United States, which of course was the country that caused us to lose the war.”

At first Tomino was opposed to the Odaiba project, assuming the rendering would be cheap and tawdry. But the colors of the features on the model won him over. “They are not the colors of real weapons,” he said. “They are happy, peaceful colors — the kinds of colors that children like. They are the kinds of colors that encourage people to say, ‘Don’t give up hope, have great expectations and have great hope for humankind.’”

Near the Rainbow Bridge, on the man-made peninsula of Odaiba, a “life size” rendition of a Gundam robot will stand guard as a representative member of the influential “Mobile Suit Gundam” television series, which this year is celebrating its 30th anniversary. The eighteen-meter-high armored figure, replicated right down to its double-nozzle jet pack, sits as the centerpiece of the Green Tokyo Gundam Project, an event that intends to raise funds for the Tokyo Metropolitan Government’s push for a more environmentally friendly future.

Along with its numerous off-shoots and films, the sci-fi animation is set in an uncertain period of conflict in which robot vehicles, or “mobile suits,” are captained by children and used as weapons.

“The theme of ‘Mobile Suit Gundam’ contains a passion for the environment that matches with Tokyo’s plan to expand the city’s green areas,” says Yasuo Miyakawa, managing director of the Gundam Character Works department at Sunrise Animation, the program’s creator. “From its beginning, the series told of a time when tension existed between people on earth and those who migrated to outer space as a result of the planet not being able to accept further population growth following environmental degradation and damage incurred by industrialization.”

Organizers are expecting 1.5 million visitors to arrive at Shinagawa Ward’s Shiokaze Park through the end of August to view (free of charge) the thirty-five-ton fabrication of fiberglass and steel up close and mingle at the surrounding booths and stalls selling robot models and t-shirts. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Green Tokyo Fundraising Campaign, an organization which will utilize the 800 million yen it hopes to collect by 2010 for such activities as the planting of roadside trees and establishment of lawns within schools.

The event is also being backed by the committee organizing Tokyo’s proposal to host the 2016 Olympics and Paralympics. The Green Tokyo Gundam Project Web page explains: “Everybody will be working together to revitalize Tokyo’s water and forests, and in 2016 we would like to welcome the athletes to a green environment that will allow them to maximize their performance.” From August 1, the left shoulder of the robot will be adorned with the group’s logo promoting the bid, whose result will be announced in October.

Media reports covering the progress of the construction began to surface in early June. A few hundred fans were estimated to have flocked to the park each day to see the robot being assembled piece by piece from its boots upward to the helmet. Yet it wasn’t long before the number reached into the thousands, many of whom were seen snapping photos.

With white limbs and a blue, yellow and red torso, the giant robot is based on the inaugural RX-78-2 Gundam. In spite of the existence of dozens of variations appearing over the three decades, Sunrise did not hesitate in making its selection. “With this being for the anniversary, nothing besides the RX-78-2 would properly represent the mobile suits of the Gundam series,” explains Miyakawa.

Yoshiyuki Tomino is the director of the series, which debuted in Japan with the 43 episodes that were broadcast between April 1979 and January of the next year. The franchise has since sprouted numerous sequels and amassed an astounding popularity, as evidenced by the robust sales results for robot models, video games and compilation DVDs for Namco Bandai Holdings and its subsidiaries. (On the same day it debuted late last month, the DVD “Mobile Suit Gundam 00 Second Season 5” sat at the top of the daily Oricon anime rankings.) High-definition versions of the first “Mobile Suit Gundam” film and its two sequels, released in 1981 and 1982, are being screened at six theaters across Japan until July 17 to commemorate the anniversary.

Tomino believes the key to success is connected to the human element within the “mobile suit” concept. “I think we were able to give the Gundam series a completely different color, one that differentiated it from other robot stories that targeted children,” the director said this week at a press luncheon in Tokyo. “In fact, we do not talk about Gundam as a series of ‘robot stories’ but rather ‘real robot stories,’ a slightly different sub-genre.”

Kunio Okawara was responsible for the mechanical designs of the original RX-78-2. His highly realistic mecha — a term that describes pilot-controlled vehicles capable of locomotion that in this case refers to the Gundam characters themselves — can wield a sword, fire a rifle, and mobilize into a fighter plane. For Odaiba, the RX-78-2 will be able to pivot its head and spray mist and emit light from fifty locations. “Each gimmick,” says Sunrise’s Miyakawa of the features, “is made to challenge what the old-school fans envision, or what old-school fans fantasize about, and turn it into the real thing.”

Okawara’s work has influenced many designers within the animation industry. Keiji Yamaguchi, a creature developer at Industrial Light & Magic whose work appeared in the 2007 film “Transformers” and its follow-up released earlier this year, graduated from the same art school, Tokyo Zokei University, as Okawara. Yamaguchi says that the original Gundam incarnation was so revolutionary compared to other robot animations of the time that in addition to living up to the expectations of a highly regarded alumnus he felt additional pressure while creating “Transformers” characters like Optimus Prime.

“Gundam brought the animation level up to the real world and fascinated young adults,” explains Yamaguchi. “It also raised the animation culture from that of being geared towards kids’ toys to sophisticated storytelling. There was no more cheesy fantasy. It did not cheat the kids, and it did not take their smarts for granted.”

Fans from all quarters of the metropolis are gearing up for the unveiling, with Nippon Travel Agency even selling tour packages that include rooms at the nearby Grand Pacific Le Daiba hotel.

Ayako Otsuka, owner of the tiny Gundam-themed bar Eclipse, located within Shinjuku Ward’s historic Golden Gai district, says that her interest in the series lies in the fact that the stories connect at the everyman level. “The protagonist’s weak points are exposed, and he is not eager to fight — he is forced to fight,” she says from behind her counter, adorned with a few colorful robot figures. “He gradually matures but even in the end he has no aim or objective. I find this situation very interesting.”

Note: This report originally appeared in the Japan Times on July 10, 2009.

Certainly they were less widely known until last year’s publication of “Yokai Attack! The Japanese Monster Survival Guide,” a tongue-in-cheek field guide to some of these imaginary beasts, which roamed Japan’s forests, canyons and villages centuries ago — at least via fables and lore — and have found their way into aspects of modern society.

“Each character has a basis in a Japanese folktale,” says American co-author Matt Alt, 35, who, along with his Japanese wife, Hiroko Yoda, 37, assembled the list of 42 yokai, including the Kappa, a green, reptile-like amphibian with a sizeable beak found in rivers, and Onibaba, an elderly hag who preys on pregnant women in order to collect the livers of their unborn children, In all, the illustrated 191-page book reads like a who’s who of nightmarish characters.

According to Alt, however, the few dozen yokai featured in the book are merely a sampling. “Given the vastness,” he says, “it was important for us to not only represent the breadth of yokai out there, but also to ensure that they weren’t too obscure.”

Beyond the myth, “Yokai Attack!” explores the origins of these beings, which were often created as a means to explain inscrutable natural phenomena. Azuki Arai, for example, which means “bean washer,” is a short, balding creature that utters an onomatopoeic tune as it goes about its rinsing along riverbanks. Apparently, locals invented it as an explanation for “the disorienting acoustics of river canyons, which tend to amplify ambient sounds.”

While it is true that these beasts are not fact, they are not entirely fiction, either. “The impact upon Japanese culture, both popular and traditional, is very real,” Alt explains. The aforementioned Kappa, which enjoys cucumbers, lends its name to kappa maki, a sushi roll stuffed with that vegetable. Similarly, kitsune udon (noodles covered with tofu) is named after the wily, fox-like Kitsune and its proclivity for such a topping.

Japanese literature, anime and films are filled with yokai, too. Toei Animation’s anime series “Mononoke” features a Nue, a creature with the legs of a tiger, body of a raccoon dog, a monkey’s head and snake’s tail, while director Takashi Miike’s 2005 fantasy film “The Great Yokai War” sees actress Chiaki Kuriyama star alongside numerous scampering critters.

“Yokai Attack!” is organized like a scrapbook. Split into chapters with titles like “Annoying Neighbors” and “Gruesome Gourmets,” the book details the basic characteristics of each entry, as well as a spot of advice should the reader meet one. For Hashi Hime, a scowling, long-haired female with a penchant for breaking up happy couples, for example, the books believes “your only chance is to swear to break up with your significant other. Don’t have one? Uh….”

Accompanying the profiles are reproductions of woodblock prints and colorful illustrations by Tatsuya Morino, an assistant to famed horror manga artist Shigeru Mizuki, whose friendship with Alt was sparked by a mutual interest in antique, die-cast metal robot toys from the 1970s.

To research the project, Alt and Yoda spent many hours at the National Diet Library digging through microfilm. The 1776 book by Sekien Toriyama, Gazu Hyakki Yako, a kind of satirized yokai encyclopedia, provided the basis for the couple’s work.

The guide is dedicated to Setsu Koizumi, who, a century ago, assisted her husband, the Irish-Greek writer Lafcadio Hearn, in penning numerous yokai-inspired ghost stories for foreign readers. Their partnership proved inspirational for Alt and Yoda, who met while at the University of Maryland in the United States.

“Cross-cultural communication can’t be a one-man show,” explains Yoda. “I really feel that Lafcadio and Setsu’s example sets the standard for when it comes to dealing with multicultural material. When we first heard about them, Matt and I saw a lot of ourselves in the way they worked.”

The authors, who run a Tokyo-based translation company that produces English-language versions of Japanese video games, animation and comic books, say that the book’s content reflects a theme common in many different cultures and evident in such literature as the old Grimm’s collection of fairytales from 19th-century Germany.

“Japanese people like scary stories just like many people around the world,” Yoda says. “I don’t think most people in Japan generally think of yokai as gruesome. Some of them definitely are, but many others are cute or weird rather than disgusting.”

Note: This article originally appeared in the June issue of iNTOUCH, the magazine of the Tokyo American Club.

Animation director Hayao Miyazaki, whose smash “Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea” this year topped the box office over the summer, said that rather than raising children in an environment filled with nationalist ideals young people should be taught crucial skills, such as building fires, climbing trees and using knives and ropes, before learning to read and write.

“Instead of looking for ways to stimulate domestic demand by building bridges or roads,” said Miyazaki at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan on Thursday, “we should have the proper environment in place for our future generation.”

His harshest indictment came against Prime Minister Taro Aso, who has used his love of comic books as a means of garnering support from the otaku crowd. “It’s embarrassing,” the animator said, sporting his usual spectacles and thick gray beard, of Aso’s hobby. “That is something he should do in his private time.”

Such a bold comment was in line with public criticism levied against Aso since he took power from Yasuo Fukuda in September. A pension scandal and a downward spiraling economy has sent the prime minister’s approval rating plummeting to 36 percent, as indicated by a poll conducted by the Mainichi Shimbun in October.

Appealing to the interests of young people is not unusual for Miyazaki, whose films – from “Laputa: Castle in the Sky” (1986) to “Princess Mononoke” (1997) – have focused on children and their relationship with nature.

Miyazaki further bemoaned the virtual worlds that the children of today are living within. “When we look at the situation we see children occupied by television, video games, email, mobile phones, and manga,” he said. “We are taking away a strength that children inherently have.”

He acknowledged that his films, too, are part of this fantasy yet he considers this to be a challenge: “If children can feel at least one film is something they cannot forget for the rest of their lives it truly would make us happy,” he said of himself and his team at Studio Ghibili, which he co-founded in 1985 with director Isao Takahata. “Therefore, it is our intention to continue, and it is my intention to continue with this work.”

Miyazaki, who was born in Tokyo in 1941, graduated from Gakushuin University in 1963. He soon after joined Toei Animation. “Spirited Away” (2001), the story of 10-year-old girl who stumbles into theme park haunted by supernatural creatures, was a worldwide hit that garnered Miyazaki an Oscar in 2003 for Best Animated Feature Film. Two years later, he was awarded the Golden Lion Lifetime Achievement accolade at the Venice Film Festival.

Miyazaki admitted that over the years the themes of his works have changed slightly, with the possible interpretation of his latter films being more wide and varied. “There are changes in myself that causes this but also the world has become a more complicated place,” he said. “Following the lead of the real world, I find that my movies have become more complicated as well.”

The animator emphasized that it is his responsibility to embark on works that everybody within his team feels positive about. However, the early days posed difficulties. During the making of “My Neighbor Totoro” (1988), in which two young girls discover that their new home in the countryside is haunted by tiny spirits, Miyazaki lacked confidence but maintained his vision. “Judging by common sense at that time,” he said, “that film should never have had an audience. It was like trying to get a pin through a small hole in one try.”

For his part, Miyazaki has started to take small steps to improve the well-being of young people. In April, a day care center was established at Studio Ghibli for the staff’s children. The facility contains various hills and climbing areas. The animator was truly amazed to see how quickly the children adapted to the new environment.

“We no longer felt great uncertainty about the future of our children,” he said. “But rather we were astonished to see the capabilities of our children.”

Just before he advances the drawing stylus down to work on her lower half, the bespectacled 49-year old explains that most of his fans don’t like looking at simply a muscled woman. He then grins and taps the stylus once more. The screen regenerates with a large phallic protrusion from her crotch area. “So I like doing something different,” he says.

For decades in Japan, the detective, romance, sci-fi, and sports stories typically found in manga serials have simply been a means of enduring a long train commute or passing time on a lunch break. But today the twists and turns that take place in these surreal worlds are gaining a following overseas, a trend that makes Maeda very pleased.

Maeda’s work, whether it be a 20-page manga or an anime video, is classified in the genre known as hentai, or perverted. Though there is a certain level of perversion in many forms of manga, in hentai perversion is the point. Storylines are secondary, or, perhaps more realistically, tertiary.

Hentai content concerns sexual situations in nearly any grotesque or violent possibility imaginable. The average piece begins with the action being akin to standard AV movie fare and then slowly morphs into a smoky sea of mayhem featuring busty young girls being sucked, fondled, bound, and penetrated by any of a dozen various appendages emanating from an alien, samurai, schoolmate, or any other living creature that might happen into the scene.

Nearly two decades ago, Maeda’s landmark comic book series “Urotsuki Doji,” featuring the first modern use of the tentacle as a tool for female molestation – a point of great pride for Maeda – cemented his place in history as the contemporary pioneer of the craft. Sales for the series totaled over 2 million volumes.

The tentacle master’s opus was subsequently made into the anime feature “Urotsuki Doji: Legend of the Overfiend.” With this release in English, Maeda’s legend grew around the world. The Erotic Anime Movie Guide claims, “No other title apart from ‘Akira’ has been so influential in the English-language market.”

Mainstream forms are undergoing a similar trend. This month Shonen Jump launched an English version of its best-selling weekly Japanese manga in the U.S. Publisher Shueisha has joined Viz Communications, Inc. to deliver such popular ongoing series as “Yu-Gi-Oh!,” “Slam Dunk,” and “Dragon Ball Z” in a monthly volume for American readers, primarily teenage boys. Initial runs will number 250,000 copies – an unprecedented circulation for such a publication.

This comes fresh on the heels of such recently successful Japanese anime features as “Pokemon” (and its seemingly endless marketing in trading cards and action figures) and Hayao Miyazaki’s “Princess Mononoke.” The latter gained accolades from Hollywood with its unique animation being seen as a true innovation in filmmaking. This year Miyazaki’s “Spirited Away” took the coveted Golden Bear at the 52nd Berlin International Film Festival Award.

For Maeda, his international audience is much more select. The artist’s latest anime home video series “La Blue Girl,” where young female superheroes band together to fend off the continual advances of man and beast, appears in a half-dozen languages.

Even though some manga has been available in the U.S. for over 10 years, Maeda sees Shonen Jump’s arrival as a potential introduction of his work to a wider audience.

“I think it’s great,” the artist says of the move overseas by the mainstream publisher. “After the audience in the U.S. reads Shonen Jump-type of manga, when they grow up, they can read our style of manga, X-rated manga, or manga stories for adults.”

Should Shonen Jump be a success, the potential market could be huge. Roughly 3,000 manga artists in Japan put ink to paper to crank out nearly 50 weeklies, bi-weeklies, and monthlies. Of these, about 10 can claim a circulation of over one million for each issue. The total annual sales of 600 billion yen amount to one quarter of Japan’s entire book market.

The challenges, however, will likely be numerous. For one, the storylines are different. Standard American comics, like Batman, Spiderman, and Mighty Mouse, have a hero – it is good versus evil. Manga stories are more complex, and, aside from exaggerated scenes of fantasy, violence, and sex, tend to not be too dissimilar from everyday life. Many of the most popular comics are made into evening television dramas.

Capturing the imaginations of American readers will also be a difficulty for Shonen Jump, which generates a readership of 3.4 million each week in Japan. The cultural mindset in the U.S. dictates that comic books are for children. In Japan, there is a manga title for nearly every age group.

“It is letting off steam,” Maeda says of why adults can be found in nearly every public setting in Japan leafing through page after page of their favorite manga. “We read it as a regular book.”

The reason for this can be traced to the work of Tezuka Osamu and the environment in Japan immediately following the Occupation in the 1950s. At that time, there were very few televisions. Adults, as well as children, demanded to be entertained at a reasonable level of sophistication, and Osamu delivered with the adventures of the tremendously popular Mighty Atom.

Hentai’s roots date back much further. “The Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife,” an Edo Period (1603-1867) ukiyo-e woodcut by Hokusai, shows a reclining and unclothed woman being wrapped and violated by octopus tentacles.

Though a motorbike accident a year and a half ago left him with a limited ability in his drawing hand to apply the proper pressure needed to draw with ink, Maeda can use his computer to create various characters and the script for his next anime feature, likely to be completed next year.

No matter what happens with Shonen Jump the content of Maeda’s work will not be compromised. The cutting edge will always be his drawing board. Like most artists, he believes his best work is ahead of him, and scoffs at any suggestion that “Urotsuki Doji” is his masterpiece.

In spite of requests from fans for samurai or ninja warriors to be included in his stories, Maeda says that his work will always focus on his concept of art. “Over the hill” is how he describes any artist who changes his style to meet the trends of the day.

“I have a priority to my taste,” Maeda explains. “I just want to do what I want to do. You must understand that Shonen Jump is only a seed. It is up to manga artists to cultivate it in our own way.”

That might mean a world that will one day find itself at the mercy of a tentacle embrace.

Note: This article originally appeared in November 2002 on the Sake-Drenched Postcards Web page.

Japanese film giants Toei and Toho probably cast nervous looks over their backs in September, when film-distribution and kabuki-theater conglomerate Shochiku established an animation division to increase its share of Japan’s $18 billion annual animation market.

“We now have the ability to expand our animation business,” says division general manager Ichiro Seki.

Shochiku, which has animation experience with the “Gundam” robots and “Ultraman,” will now have the increased flexibility needed to commission a larger selection of features and provide unique marketing options.

Seki believes that his company’s strong relationship with some of Japan’s top animation studios will be important.

Features to be distributed this year include Sunrise Animation’s “Mobile Suit Z Gundam,” a film sequel to the popular TV series, and Gonzo’s “Fullmetal Alchemist,” a post-WWI adventure story set in Germany.

“The Glass Mask,” based on Suzue Miuchi’s two-decade long coming-of-age manga series popular among young women, became the division’s first weekly terrestrial TV series when it began last month on TV Tokyo.

Over the next three years Shochiku expects to release 10 weekly TV series and 13 feature-length films.

Such an unprecedented plan, Seki says, is made possible due to a new ability to give priority to particular projects and financial freedom.

“Prior to the division’s formation, animation films had equal priority with live-action films when it came to financing, but now the Animation Division has its own budget,” says Seki.

While skeptics may scratch their heads at Shochiku’s old-fashioned kabuki pedigree, the 115-year old company, known in recent years primarily for distributing live-action films (“The Twilight Samurai,” for example), sees its diversity as an advantage.

In addition to merchandising and distribution of animation oeuvres, it plans to host special promotional events and stage plays based on some of its new features. “The Prince of Tennis,” a teenage tennis movie nearing the end of its theater run in Japan, is scheduled to become a theater musical.

The 14-employee division will also be expanding into developing characters, a niche that the company thinks will make it more competitive.

“Our goal is to create a trading company in character goods,” Seki says, adding that this is a contrast to Toho, which focuses primarily on distributing feature films.

This will involve acquiring character licenses and merchandising rights, in some cases for characters not specifically related to animation. Sanrio’s Hello Kitty would be a model for the latter.

To tap the booming international animation market, “Grenadier,” the adventures of a sexy buxom blonde, will be released in a series of DVDs in the U.S. “Karas,” the story of an armored ninja, and “Spirit,” a futuristic adventure amid world environmental decline, are both currently in negotiations for overseas distribution.

Peter Brinham, a Tokyo-based media finance specialist, says that Shochiku was late to cash in on the surprise groundswell in animation’s global popularity.

The challenge for the company, Brinham adds, will be in making smart hiring choices. “Since the Japanese animation business is very fragmented,” he says, “personal relationships and individual know-how remain at a premium.”

Seki remains confident. Though he doesn’t expect the division to have an immediate impact on the company’s pursuit of top distributor Toho, he foresees a noticeable improvement in perhaps five years.

Establishing an in-house animation studio similar to that of its rival Toei is not in Shochiku’s immediate plans. Instead, the creative focus of the division will be in teaming up with the next Hayao Miyazaki (director of “Spirited Away”) or Katsuhiro Otomo (“Akira”) from outside Shochiku.

“While fostering and working with new-comers,” Seki says, “we would like the Shochiku Animation Division to grow up along with them.”

Note: This story was originally featured in Variety as a part of a package commemorating Shochiku’s 110th anniversary.

Directed by Mamoru Oshii (“Ghost in the Shell”) and based on the best-selling novel by Hiroshi Mori (800,000 copies in print in Japan), the film tells the story of a fantasy world in which children living in perpetual adolescence are enlisted to pilot fighter planes for the public’s entertainment.

In an interview late last year, producer Tomohiko Ishii said that unlike many live action and animation features released today this film depicts the reality that many young people are living in. “As director Mamoru Oshii felt that he had a message he wanted to communicate to today’s youngsters,” Isshii said, “he decided to work with an up-and-coming scriptwriter like Chihiro Ito, which adopting a new directorial style so that his message could reach the audience he had in mind.”

The film’s score was written by one of Oshii’s long-time collaborators, Kenji Kawai (“Ghost in the Shell” and “Death Note”). The voice cast includes Rinko Kikuchi (“Babel”) and Chiaki Kuriyama (“Kill Bill: Vol. 1″).

From a technical perspective, Ishii said that the film blends 2-D and 3-D animation techniques that are highly innovative. “While 2-D and 3-D animation techniques are becoming overly saturated in the current animation industry, it may seem too challenging to get the best use out of the two techniques. However, it could also mean that this movie will launch itself as the pioneer of a completely new type of animation.”

At the Venice Film Festival, which will run between August 27th and September 6th, “The Sky Crawlers” will be joined by “Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea,” the latest release by Hayao Miyazaki (“Howl’s Moving Castle” and “Spirited Away”) of studio Ghibli. The two features are the only animated films in the 21-film lineup. Also representing Japan will be “Achilles and the Tortoise,” by director Takeshi Kitano (“Violent Cop”).

‘The Sky Crawlers’ will open on 230 screens in Japan on August 2nd.

Addendum (August 8th): “The Sky Crawlers” will be screened at the 33rd Toronto International Film Festival, which will be held between September 4th and 13th.

“Our television animations are currently going all around the world,” says Hiroyuki Kinoshita, director of the cartoon studio’s corporate strategy. “Now we are thinking back to the origin of our company, which was focused on feature films.”

Two Toei features, “One Piece: Karakuri Castle’s Giant Mechanical Soldier,” a swashbuckling search for lost treasure, and “Pretty Cure Max Heart 2,” the sequel to last year’s tale of three ladies charged with protecting a queen and her jewelry, hit screens across Japan in the last four months.

Emphasizing bigscreen is one way Toei is adapting to changes in the local market and taking advantage of the global popularity of animation, an industry worth $20 billion annually.

For the fiscal year ending March 31, Toei will have released five animated features, an increase over the three from the year before.

Japan’s falling birthrate have spurred the company to try a new experiment: a love story blending live action with CGI animation. “The Last Love Song on This Little Planet,” says Kinoshita, is seeking a slightly older audience than typical Toei fare like the ongoing “One Piece” series.

“We are looking at a number of target audiences,” he says, “as we try to capture different business opportunities for feature films.”

But overseas expansion, explains Kinoshita, is Toei’s biggest challenge. The international market for Japanese animation has received an enormous boost in recent years from the popularity of films by former Toei hand Hayao Miyasaki (“Howl’s Moving Castle”).

Toei recently opened branch offices in Europe, Latin America and Los Angeles as part of their overseas strategy of revitalizing existing titles and fostering such ancillary markets as merchandising. After suffering a steady decline for the past three years, overseas sales are projected to increase by more than 50% for the fiscal year ending in March.

On the TV side, the studio’s upcoming collaboration with Cartoon Network will bring to televisions across the U.S. a Toei-animated version of the current cartoon “The Powerpuff Girls,” a series where three ladies utilize light energy to morph into superheroines and ward off monsters from the dark side.

“We will be making something totally different,” says Kinoshita of the difficulty in presenting a new version of an existing product. “Before that we were simply selling our productions to foreign companies.”

Though these projects represent a change for Toei, the company’s approach to financing its projects – roughly $2 or $3 million for a film and $100,000 for a television episode – has remained basically the same.

Because of their higher cost, feature films require Toei to use the production-committee approach – the standard in Japan in which partner companies (such as a homevideo, toy, or publishing firms) invest in the production and share the profit.

“Television is different,” says Kinoshita. “We will pay all the costs so that we can retain the distribution rights and character licensing business.”

Toei is using new methods, though, to control costs. Since digital workstations have replaced traditional cel animation, a subsidiary in the Philippines with a staff of over 100 uses computers to perform much of the background and coloring work for Toei’s television productions. The art direction and key animation elements are still completed in Japan.

This outsourcing of labor saves roughly $10,000 dollars per episode in manpower costs. But constant upgrades for the computer equipment are expensive, Kinoshita maintains, so the major benefit is simply that overall production costs remain in check.

With rival studio Shochiku having established an animation division in 2004, motivation to stay competitive is never in short supply at Toei’s headquarters in Tokyo.

“Our philosphy,” says Kinoshita, “is to provide dreams to children all over the world. That will not change. And when those children grow up to become adults, we will have to ensure that they too are satisfied.”

Note: This story originally appeared in the March 27-April 2 issue of Variety.

Resting on a wall rack are two different kinds of medieval-era swords; one is of plastic, the other of darkened wood. Just across the aisle hang olive officer uniforms with red trim. Beyond them in the next row are pink nurse outfits carefully wrapped in plastic and complete with matching headpieces. Spearheads and daggers sit on shelves just below; makeup and black stockings are nearby, too.

This shop, located in Tokyo’s teen-friendly Shibuya district, is an outlet of Cospa, short for “costume paradise.”

“Our hottest seller are the costumes based on the Gundam robot animation series,” shop clerk Tomu Ijuin says of the officer uniforms based on the famous robot cartoons. “They used to be just for anime fans but now we are seeing them turning up on pop groups.”

Turning fantasy into reality for its patrons is this shop’s business. The activity collectively is termed cosplay, or costume play, and it is an increasingly popular trend in Japan whereby average folks dress as a character in their favorite video game, anime, manga, or other fantasy-related medium. Be forewarned, this is not to be confused as a simple knock-off of Halloween. Rather, it is a massive year-round business consisting of companies trying to create the latest designs to meet the demands of their trend-savvy customers.

In addition to his sales duties, Tomu, sporting pink hair, balloon denim pants, and elevated sneakers, is the shop’s main image character, a DJ at cosplay dance events, and a cosplayer himself – all in one flesh.

“Since Shonen Jump started selling their English edition last year, we’ve been selling a lot Naruto costumes in the U.S,” Tomu says of one of the uniform shirts modeled on one of the characters within the famous Japanese manga comic. Most of the costumes in the shop have distinctly male and female versions.

Cospa’s customers are just everyday people, says Tomu. Some come specifically searching for club wear; others are men in their 20s and 30s who are looking to emulate the hero in their favorite PC game; and still others are teenagers looking to strap on the helmet and brandish the war implement of their favorite anime character.

Perhaps Tokyo’s most popular costume exhibition area lies just up the street in the highly fashionable Harajuku area. Here, each Sunday, the streets come alive with Victorian maidens in velvet and lace, gothic queens in heavy white makeup and bandages splattered in blood, and any number of comic heroes past and present. (“Sailor Moon,” in her white and blue suit, and her various other celestially-derived offshoots are always favorites.) Tourists gawk, snap photos, and lavish attention upon this collection of what some might refer to as, well, freaks.

“Really, they are no different than Trekkies or Star Wars fans in the U.S.,” says Yoshi Kudo, a cosplay expert and observer, who is at times frustrated by the sensationalism that often accompanies descriptions of the cosplay scene in Japan. “It is merely one of the banal expressions of youth subculture which is common in advanced societies. But this Japanese version is slightly different in terms of its scale because companies and adults more systematically and explicitly exploit young girls.”

He is referring to the issue of money, and there is a lot involved. Since it began in 1995 with one store in Shibuya, Cospa has since mushroomed into 6 stores across the country with annual sales totaling 1.2 billion yen. Single uniforms fetch nearly 30,000 yen. Accessories are endless.

Such purchases are made possible by a society willing to allow its young people to live with their parents (expense-free) well beyond their adult years. As a result, a part-time job is all that is needed to generate enough spending money each month for a spaceship captain’s suit complete with the appropriate badges. Japan’s ongoing recession is hardly a factor.

And society has embraced the scene. Cosplayers appear in picture books, magazines, adult DVDs, and TV programs. (The white and pink frills of the Pink House clothing label graced many TV idols in the ’80s.) Some massage parlors even administer sexual services by characters decked out in the costume of the customer’s choice. One such parlor in Ikebukuro offers the option of tearing the character’s stockings amongst a long laundry list of other amorous alternatives available.

In its beginnings nearly 30 years ago, cosplayers made their costumes themselves. By contrast, today the scene is made by such stores as Cospa scattered throughout Tokyo and other big cities and trend tips packed within the pages of magazines like C*NET. Estimates have set the present number of cosplayers in Japan at roughly 50,000.

At an upcoming cosplay club party event next month in Tokyo, Tomu will be spinning remixes of popular anime music as costume fans mix and mingle. But the biggest events for cosplayers to show their fashion sense are at Tokyo’s annual ComicMarket and the monthly gatherings at Korakuen Amusement Park next to Tokyo Dome.

Yoshi sees the reason for the costume craze as being linked to Japan’s historical tendency as a “tribe culture,” or desire to be part of a particular group. Tomu concurs.

“We do it for the same reason that motorbike fans gather together to show off their machines – to be around people with similar interests,” Tomu says. “We are no different than they are.”

Note: This article originally appeared in March 2003 on the Sake-Drenched Postcards Web page.