Production Reference:Translator's Note: In addition to published interviews in magazines and video releases, in recent years, many Gundam creators and staff members have taken to social media such as Twitter and personal blogs to discuss their experiences working on the series. Here, I'll be translating some interesting examples.
Where available, I'll provide links to the originals via the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine and other archival sources.
Translator's Note: These essays were written in May 2006 for the "Ura-Tomino Blog" (Tomino Insider Blog) that accompanied the Wings of Rean anime. They were written under the alias "Kawa-P" by Wings of Rean producer Yoshitaka Kawaguchi, who served as setting manager on V Gundam. Though the Ura-Tomino Blog has been discontinued, the original Japanese versions of these essays can be viewed via the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine at here and here.
Bike battleship. It has a nostalgic but impactful sound.
Personally, sometimes I think I'd like to attempt these bike battleships in Gundam once again, and sometimes I don't...
Around the time the production of V-Gun began, it seems Executive M of Company B gave an order to include bike battleships. Looking back on it now, I have a feeling the the director was really agonizing over how to introduce them to the Gundam world in a natural way. But since the bike battleships were a top secret known only to the director and the producer, I and the rest of the staff were perplexed by the instructions the director sometimes gave us.
First, there was the Galicson bike corps. (1) The idea of the Zanscare Empire having a force of battle bikes was setting we could still accept without difficulty. I had no particular questions when I placed the order with the designer Mr. Ishigaki. But it was peculiar how strangely huge the bikes were in the director's roughs.
Then there was the time when I ordered a design from Mr. Katoki for the space fortress Keilas Guille, which appeared in the second cours. The director's instructions were that it should be a beam cannon fortress with two ring-shaped particle accelerators, but Mr. Katoki gave us a design rough with four rings. His reasoning was that it would be better balanced in terms of design if there were four.
It looked really cool, with a good sense of scale, but the director insisted there should be two rings. He said "When the beam fires, it would be nice if the light circling around the accelerators looked like a motorbike riding through space." Mr. Katoki and I said, "Huh? Why does it need to look like a bike?" The director just gave us a mysterious smile.
At last, when we were about to start the scripting work for the third cours, the director finally brought out color sketches of the bike battleships that he'd requested from Mr. Okawara in anticipation of that day...
That's all for now, and I'll continue next time.
Kawa-P
It seemed the director was worried that some of the staff might leave the program when the bike battleships showed up. He showed the sketches around the studio, person by person, to gauge their reactions.
When we saw the color sketches of the bike battleships, I think the response from the staff was naturally divided. But orders from the sponsors were only to be expected when you were working on a TV program, so everyone seemed to take it relatively calmly.
And I actually approved. I just thought that they might as well have appeared from the first episode.
Alongside the bike battleships, the director presented the idea of mobile suits attached to ring-shaped mecha, and when these actually appeared onscreen they brought variety and a feeling of speed to the mobile suit action scenes that previously been monotonous. When they started coming to life as we filmed the third cours, even the director, who had seemed embarrassed by the introduction of the bike battleships, came to acknowledge this.
In addition to the bike battleships, Executive M also changed the plan for G Gundam to a "fighting Gundam" one year later, and I couldn't help admiring him. If anything, I was disappointed that we on the anime production staff hadn't been able to propose such outrageous TV-oriented ideas.
When V-Gun ended, I talked with the director about what we'd do if we compiled it into movies. I suggested that the bike battleships should appear from the very beginning.
When Üso, Odelo, and the others see the burning streets of Woowig from atop Kasareria, the black silhouettes of the bike battleships emerge, crushing the city beneath them. This would be the perfect way to introduce the Zanscare Empire as a loathsome, powerful enemy. Then a shocked Üso flies off in the Shokew...
As the first program I was deeply involved in as a setting manager, V-Gun is a work I'll never forget. Whatever the director may say, I believe that despite the differing circumstances of Brain Powerd, ∀ Gundam, King Gainer, and Wings of Rean, all of them were made from the desire for a rematch with V-Gun.
In particular, I'd like to write about the relationship between V-Gun and ∀ Gundam. But next time, we'll hear from Mr. M of the publicity department.
Kawa-P
(1) I think Kawaguchi means the Gattarl team, which used the mobile armor Galicson in one of its early appearances.
Translator's Note: Mitsuo Fukuda, originally a member of the Sunrise planning office, later went on to direct Gundam Seed and its sequels, as well as the Future GPX Cyber Formula series and Gear Fighter Dendoh. The following thread was posted to his @fukuda320 Twitter account on September 22, 2010. Though it seems the original posts are no longer available, they've been archived for posterity at Togetter.
When Mr. Oguro was talking about Director Tomino, I recalled my own encounters with the director. I loved his works like "Triton of the Sea" and "Brave Raideen." As a student, I never dreamed that one day I'd be working at the same company as this director. ...Okay, let's keep writing. >^_^<
I joined Sunrise when First Gundam was almost over. I stayed there for a year, spent three years in the middle at a respectable job, and then came back to Sunrise. I never met Director Tomino while I was working there, and the first time we ever spoke was when Cyber Formula was starting. It was a somewhat unfortunate introduction.
There wasn't time to produce an opening for the first cours of Cyber Formula, so we decided to make one by compiling footage from episode 1. Unlike today, we couldn't do video editing, so we had to do it by re-shooting the cuts that we'd completed at that point. And the photography department also had their hands full, so the number of cuts we could shoot was limited to the bare minimum.
The rush film for the temporary opening had been delivered to the editor, but just as I was about to go over there, I got a phone call from the editor. They said I shouldn't come over right now, because Director Tomino had started editing the CF opening. I instantly panicked. (@_@) "Why Director Tomino? What should I do?" So I decided to stand by at the studio.
It seems that Director Tomino had come to the editor for F91 retake work. (1) While he was waiting, he started looking at the opening film and music that had been set in the machine that edited the audio and video together. After watching it for a while, he suddenly started editing it on his own. The F91 unit directors were standing behind him, and it seems he was editing it as if he was giving them a lecture.
The editing took about six hours. Around 3 o'clock in the morning, the editor called me, and when I arrived the director was coming down the stairs in sweatpants carrying a bicycle. I was introduced to him for the first time, and he wanted to talk to me. "It would have been better if there were a few more cuts," he said. "I couldn't get the timing to match." He also gave me some advice on choosing cuts.
To be honest, I don't remember much because I was so nervous. Though he was a respected director, I couldn't even look him in the face. But I was relieved because he seemed to be in a really good mood. I'd heard many legends about the director, and I was terrified he was going to yell at me. In that moment, I thought he was someone who really loved his work. It was remarkable to work hard until 3 o'clock in the morning on something that wasn't even his job.
The company president heard about this incident the following day, and when he told Director Tomino they were going to pay him a fee, he replied "Never mind that. Try to get them some more artwork instead." I was truly happy to hear that. I didn't run into Director Tomino for a while after that, and our next encounter was during "V Gundam."
...If you're all interested, I'll keep writing. But I'm finished for today.
Translator's Note: The following thread was posted to Fukuda's @fukuda320 Twitter account on September 23, 2010. The original posts have been archived at Togetter.
Let's keep going this morning. I'd gradually stopped tweeting, and I thought maybe that was fine, but that idea itself is a bit rigid. You all say I should use this freely, so I'll go ahead like this. An hour-long concentration battle!
During the planning of "V Gundam," the producer in charge called me in, saying "Would you like to participate as an episode director?" I was moved when he told me, "This could be your last chance to learn about directing under Director Tomino." They sent me the proposal and the Tomino memos, but I had to pass when they decided to do the Cyber "11" videos. (2) How disappointing.
At the time, I was told "Your staff will scatter like baby spiders if you say you're doing both Gundam and Cyber." (3)
The reason was obvious. It would have been terrible. The workload, the content, the psychological pressure from the director, etc. Though the scale and circumstances of Cyber were different from Gundam, when they put it like that, I was like (;^_^A ...
Maybe they were having trouble rounding up episode directors, but I was surprised that they came to me. I think it must have been a constant struggle for the director. When I saw the first episode, the original episode 4 had become episode 1, and the characters didn't have any shading.
Eventually, half a year passed, and when Cyber was on a break I was asked to do some storyboards. That was for V Gundam episode 29.
I read various materials and the scripts and storyboards for several episodes, as well as the script for my episode, so I'd be thoroughly prepared. But the director didn't say a word to me about the content. Instead we just chatted for two solid hours, or rather, he lectured me about directorial theory.
You're interested in the content, right? But it's no good. There were too many dangerous stories, and I'll take them to my grave. (;^_^A）Or I might talk about it over drinks...
His conclusion was, "Do as you please," and it seemed that's what I was supposed do. I felt uneasy, but before I could think about it, I'd recklessly drawn it and sent it in. Two days later, I received a letter along with the director's storyboard revisions and scraps of unused storyboard that had been corrected in red.
In that time, he'd revised more than half of it. It was a terrifying power. And what's more, making corrections in red was something no ordinary director could do. As for the letter, it contained some scolding and just a few words of praise. (I don't mean to boast, but it seemed some of it hadn't been corrected.) (4)
I see, I thought. Maybe the director is looking for storyboards that will stimulate him. If you're thinking this, then I'll do that. That representation won't work, so think about it like this. They asked me to do another one, but "Zero" had already started, so I had to pass. (5)
I still have the storyboards and the letter he sent me, and I'll try to share them soon. Since then, I've done my very best to address the issues he warned me about. I still look at that sometimes when I start feeling conceited.
Even a fleeting encounter with someone can have a huge impact. Back then, I believed that for the first time.
Next is Gundam Seed! It'll be dangerous... (;^_^A
Translator's Note: The following thread was posted to Fukuda's @fukuda320 Twitter account on September 24~25, 2010. The original posts have been archived at Togetter.
Let's tweet about Director Tomino! This is the last one. Forgive me if it gets a little long.
In January 2002, I was first introduced to Director Tomino as the director of the next "Gundam" series. I had the impression he was displeased. And he was. I was just some nobody from nowhere. (6) And I think he felt "Turn A Gundam" was supposed to have summed up all the previous "Gundam," so why were they making another one?!
Director Tomino spoke to me with a very stern expression about his own experiences with Gundam. Of course, that's also secret. >^_^< (But I might talk about it when I'm drunk.) It was mainly about "Turn A" and "V." And about when "Z" and "G" started.
He talked about various things for two hours, and during that time all I could do was keep saying "Right," "Yes," and "I understand" over and over again. I'd been warned in advance not to say anything superfluous, but even before that, I was too nervous to speak.
Finally, he suddenly changed the subject and asked, "So, what kind of story are you thinking of?" (;^_^A
You might call that a surprise attack, but no, I had been thinking of something. In fact, I'd already submitted the "Seed" proposal to the company. (7) In the moment, though, I got flustered and lied about it, saying "I don't have anything yet... But after hearing your stories, I have some ideas." (^^;
Such audacity, to say I wanted to make this kind of "Gundam" even after Director Tomino's stories... Director Tomino's reaction was to say, "Oh my, are you okay?" But when we parted, he shook my hand and said, "Please do your best."
As for the advice he gave me, I think it's okay for me to say it included "Don't trust XX!!" and "Make a five-part combining Gundam!" (8) I was stunned when he said that. I was bewildered by this abrupt remark, but I interpreted it in my own way.
A creator can't simply give in to demands from sponsors and broadcasting stations. I think he meant you can't make things that are captive to existing value systems.
Director Tomino has always fought to protect his works from the calculations of sponsors, stations, and production companies. His painful feelings can be understood from his comments in DVDs and magazine interviews during the production of "ZG" and "VG."
Works shouldn't be created just to sell toys and videos. We have to think only of the work itself, and the audience that watches and enjoys it each week. So we have to fight back against demands that could destroy the story and the worldview.
During "Destiny," I realized that those demands could sometimes change the tone of the work. Had it not been for Director Tomino's advice back then, I might have given in. But thanks to Director Tomino, in the end I stood my ground.
Afterwards, I received some books from the director. These were "The Cure of Turn A" and "Principles of Film." (Which anyone aiming to become a director or planner should definitely read.) He also let me see the first episode of King Gainer ahead of time, saying "Show this to Fukuda." (9)
He even discussed the title with me, allowing me to use "Kidō Senshi." He looked after me in so many ways.
He came to the launch event in a red jacket, livening up the venue with Mr. Nishikawa and all the voice cast. And for the Seed Special Editions we later made, he even advised me during a break in the work on the "Z Gundam" New Translation, writing several pages on his knowhow about editing and compilations so that I could study it.
I also went to see him when "Destiny" was starting, but this time the conversation ended in about ten minutes with him saying "Do as you please." Fortunately, I sometimes hear from the director now even though we haven't run into each other around the studio. But personally... even now, I still get nervous in front of the director. (^^;
I'm not sure what the director is up to these days, but I think if you're involved in "Gundam" then you should listen to Director Tomino. "Gundam" is now a brand. In that case, you shouldn't be making it unless you know what Director Tomino was originally aiming for. And I'd definitely love to go and see him when I make my next work. >^_^<
(1) Note that the Cyber Formula TV series debuted on March 15, 1991, one day before the theatrical premiere of Gundam F91.
(2) The Cyber Formula 11 OVA series was released in six volumes between November 1992 and June 1993.
(3) "Scatter like baby spiders" is a literal translation of the lovely idiom 蜘蛛の子を散らす.
(4) I found this last comment tricky to translate. For what it's worth, the Japanese text here reads 「自慢するわけじゃないけど、まあ直されてない方だったみい」.
(5) The Cyber Formula Zero OVA series was released in eight volumes between April 1994 and February 1995.
(6) The Japanese idiom used here is どこの馬の骨とも分からない, "doesn't know where his horse's bones came from," which means a stranger of dubious and unsavory origins.
(7) The working title for Gundam Seed was actually "Gundam Saga," so that was presumably the title used for Fukuda's proposal.
(8) Tomino's enigmatic remark about "a five-part combining Gundam" may be a disparaging reference to live-action sentai series such as Power Rangers. Tomino mentions in his book "The Cure of Turn A" that a Bandai executive urged him to rework V Gundam into something like a sentai show.
(9) Tomino's "The Cure of Turn A" and "Principles of Film" were first published in May 2000 and February 2002, respectively. Overman King Gainer debuted in September of 2002, one month before Gundam Seed.
Translator's Note: Masuo Ueda began his Sunrise career as a production assistant on the Mobile Suit Gundam TV series, then became an assistant producer on the movie Gundam II: Soldiers of Sorrow and a full producer on Gundam III: Encounters in Space. He went on to produce several notable Gundam works in the 1990s, including Gundam 0083 and the TV series V Gundam, G Gundam, and Gundam W. The following thread was posted to his @mastin55 Twitter account on February 14, 2022. The original posts have been archived in the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine.
It was at the Fugetsudo in Ginza, on a certain day in 1993, that I heard Sunrise was transferring its stock to Bandai. I was summoned by the president, senior managing director, and managing director, and told that I'd be going to the new company. (1) It was a bolt out of the blue, like Emperor Hirohito's surrender broadcast. Until that day, the production company had created fine works because it was independent. This spirit of independence was its foundation.
I found myself reacting to this news with unexpected calm. They gave me various reasons, but basically they felt that if they kept running the business themselves, they'd lose the ability to make level-headed decisions as they grew older, and they didn't want the company to be held back by the problem of their aging. I was well aware of the rigors of running a studio, and I expected they'd say that sooner or later, but did this mean they were moving the schedule forward?
Moreover, they said they were transferring the company to Bandai, which understood it best. Partnering with Bandai, Gundam's greatest client, was a very natural decision. The three of them looked a little surprised by my lighthearted reaction. But what would become of me?
They said they'd like me to continue working in a leading role within the company. It was a condition of the deal that the studio would keep making anime as it did before, and that the core members would remain unchanged. I felt like I'd been sold. But since I was responsible for Bandai at the time and had many acquaintances there, I figured it would be the same as ever, and I kept my thoughts to myself. Other members of the company, however, were thrown into confusion by this situation.
I have no recollection at all of when or how they announced this within the company. Of course, at first we were under a gag order, and only a tiny handful of members knew. Producer Yoshii, who was responsible for Takara, went red in the face and confronted the president, saying "This is unacceptable! Take it back!" (2)
The countdown to my own departure from Sunrise probably began with this Fugetsudo meeting. (3)
Translator's Note: The following thread was posted to Ueda's @mastin55 Twitter account on February 14, 2022. The original posts have been archived in the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine.
It's been almost 30 years now since the stock transfer was announced, during the broadcast of V Gundam and the planning of G Gundam. Looking back on the history up until now, I suppose joining the Bandai Group was a success. And if we hadn't joined the group, G Gundam probably wouldn't have been so tenacious. It really fired us up. (4)
It's unclear when they began discussing it behind the scenes, but I think it was before the broadcast of V Gundam.
The owners and executives had gone through many hardships since the days of Mushi Production, so they were pretty tired, and now they had a hit work in the form of Gundam, it seemed they felt they'd done enough in terms of management and assets. Honestly, I wished they'd dreamed a little bigger.
It was purely because of the relationship of trust between Bandai's then-President Yamashina and the Sunrise executives that they were able to decide how the future of the company would be shared. (5) I believe this was President Yamashina's crowning achievement at Bandai. It must have multiplied the value hundreds of times over.
As for Gundam at the time, it was a fairly delicate situation...
Translator's Note: The following thread was posted to Ueda's @mastin55 Twitter account on February 14, 2022. The original posts have been archived in the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine.
Following First Gundam, we'd produced real Gundams such as Z, ZZ, Char's Counterattack, 0080, F91, and 0083. But while these were unable to match the sales of the old days, a certain fad called SD Gundam had taken the market by storm. Sunrise was horrified when its sales were briefly four times those of real plamo.
Under the name of Gundam, content over which the original creator Sunrise had no control was winning the support of the children. The editor in chief of a publishing company central to this content even said that the era of real G was already over. (6) There was much debate about this situation, but Sunrise decided not to intervene. For a creator, this was a defeat. And then...
As the production of 0083 was nearing its end, the question of what to do for the next Gundam came up at a board meeting. The company's business situation was good. Gundam royalties were coming in, and Takara's and Tomy's works were doing well, as was City Hunter. (7) Nonetheless, the meeting was shrouded in a heavy atmosphere.
This heavy atmosphere was the pressure that we felt. The then-president concluded that, now it had expanded into theatrical films and OVAs, of course Gundam's future was a new TV series. But who would be in charge of it? After a brief silence from the three executives responsible for production, he said "Then you're in charge, Ueda." I'd be working with Director Tomino again, for the first time in 10 years.
Translator's Note: The following thread was posted to Ueda's @mastin55 Twitter account on February 15, 2022. The original posts have been archived in the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine.
There was a V Gundam event at the now-closed Kyushu Space World. (8) I was happy just to be able to create a 5-meter Gundam statue. I gather there's now a life-sized moving Gundam. (laughs)
Dentsu, the agency chosen for the time slot of the newly launched Gundam TV series, had never worked with anime before. (9)
In the new Gundam TV series, we also lowered the age of the protagonist in order to target a younger audience. Naturally, it was strongly influenced by SD Gundam.
Director Tomino was also on board. (10) The animation workplace was a very tough environment, and it was impossible to match the artwork quality of F91 or 0083 on TV.
The series started on TV Asahi, but it wasn't welcomed by the station. The sales plan the agency brought to them gave the impression that, with First and the other previous TV Gundams, there was no alternative to their affiliate Nagoya TV because it was a station that hadn't benefited from a big hit. (11)
Dentsu learned virtually everything about anime planning with this first anime work. It's ironic that an agency which at the time was uninterested in anime program sales is now responsible for so many of them. You can really feel the changing of the times.
Translator's Note: The following thread was posted to Ueda's @mastin55 Twitter account on February 17, 2022. The original posts have been archived in the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine.
As far as both Sunrise and I were concerned, Gundam had ended with the release of the Gundam movie Encounters in Space. Though I was bewildered by how big the movement had become, I also felt happy and accomplished, and I didn't want to ruin those good memories. It was thanks to Director Tomino that I could become a producer with Gundam, so I had my heart set on making a non-Gundam work with the director. But before I knew it, ten years had passed.
I finally came back to Gundam with 0083. But since this wasn't with Director Tomino, I tried my best to compete, using a team of youngsters, with the original F91 that was being created in parallel. Ultimately, though, we couldn't create a truly new Gundam.
Honestly, I was troubled that my next work with Mr. Tomino would be a Gundam. And this would be the first series since 1987's ZZ, six years earlier during the heyday of SD.
The so-called Heisei Gundam series that followed, continuing until X in 1996, was to be a succession of hardships. As well as creating the work, I was also Bandai's contact person and responsible for company management. This was the situation as we started on the final Gundam that Sunrise would create as an independent production company. But...
About three months after the program began, a Bandai executive summoned me, President Yamaura, and Director Tomino to their main office in Asakusa. (12) What happened next had Director Tomino yelling with burning fury!
—The whole story will be revealed at an event on March 13! Details will be announced shortly!
Translator's Note: The following thread was posted to Ueda's @mastin55 Twitter account on February 19, 2022. The original posts have been archived in the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine.
Sunrise was a tenacious company. In April 1988, "Samurai Troopers," sponsored by Takara, started in an evening time slot on Nagoya TV. Bandai had been the sponsor for a six-year span ending in January 1988, from 1982's "Xabungle" until "Dragonar," with Z Gundam and ZZ in between. Three months later, a rival company took over.
For an independent production company, sponsors and TV time slots are a lifeline. Especially as a company that didn't have a time slot on a Tokyo flagship station, the Nagoya TV slot was something we wanted to keep at any cost.
I can't discuss the details, but Bandai didn't go for the plan for Dragonar's successor program. We pitched it frantically to the bitter end, but it didn't work. The plan was hastily proposed to a rival company, but we were out of time.
After three months of an emergency filler show, Samurai Troopers began airing. (13) This was decided based on our relationship of trust with the TV station, and because we had friends at Takara from the Mushi Production days. After this, we became connected to Takara through the Brave series.
I later heard rumors that the people at Bandai were stamping their feet in frustration. Our company had staked its very survival on this long shot. What's more, the plan's content was inspired by "Saint Seiya," a hit work sponsored by Bandai. It had been a cunning strategy by the duo of President Ito on the sales side, and Senior Managing Director Yamaura on the planning side. (14) I'll never forget Senior Managing Director Yamaura's comment that "There's another loach under that willow." (15)
The program became a hit, and the voice acting unit "NG5" became popular as well. It later developed into a video series.
Translator's Note: The following thread was posted to Ueda's @mastin55 Twitter account on February 19, 2022. The original posts have been archived in the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine.
We'd do anything to survive. We worked with toymakers in every direction—with Clover on Gundam, Tomy on Ideon, Takara on Dougram, and Bandai later on. The 80s were the glory days of Sunrise robot anime. It was like developing new cars with the involvement of Toyota, Nissan, and Honda, something that defies common sense.
Of course, the details of the plans were kept secret for confidentiality reasons, but as the executives responsible for planning made presentations to various companies and listened to their orders, they were also proceeding with the plans with the people in charge. You'd often make the rounds of all the toymakers on a single day.
The creation of these robot show plans was also made possible because we had many superb mechanical designers such as Mr. Kunio Okawara.
(1) The Japanese job titles used here are 社長 (president), 専務 (senior managing director), and 常務 (managing director). At this point, Eiji Yamaura was serving as Sunrise's president and representative director.
(2) Presumably Takayuki Yoshii, then the Sunrise producer in charge of the "Brave" series sponsored by Takara. Ironically, Yoshii went on take over as Sunrise president once the merger was concluded.
(3) Ueda eventually left Sunrise in 2000, spending a few years as a freelance producer before joining Sony's Aniplex subsidiary.
(4) The Japanese term 開き直り (hirakinaori) means something like "standing your ground," "becoming defiant," or "going on the offensive." In this context I think it indicates a shift to a more aggressive attitude.
(5) Makoto Yamashina, the eldest son of Bandai's founder, became president of the company in May 1980. He resigned in 1997 following a failed merger with the video game developer Sega.
(6) This publishing company would presumably be Kodansha, publisher of Comic BomBom.
(7) As of 1992, Sunrise's anime lineup included the "Brave" series (Brave of the Sun Fighbird and Brave of the Legend Da-Garn) sponsored by Takara, the "Eldran" series (Matchless Raijin-Oh and Energy Bomb Gambaruger) sponsored by Tomy, and the ongoing City Hunter series. The Sunrise producers responsible for these series were Takayuki Yoshii, Kenji Uchida, and Masuo Ueda respectively.
(8) This theme park opened in 1990 and closed in 2018.
(9) The role of the advertising agency is to sell commercial time during a TV program, a task handled by the Sotsu Agency on previous Gundam series.
(10) The Japanese verb 納得する (nattoku suru) means something like "be convinced," "be satisfied," or "accept." Presumably Ueda means that Tomino agreed with the age targeting, but the original sentence doesn't specify an object, and Ueda's tweet precedes this with a paragraph break so the connection seems less clear.
(11) A complicated explanation that I had trouble parsing. It's possible Ueda means that Nagoya TV itself had no choice, but that seemed less plausible. For what it's worth, the original Japanese sentence reads 「代理店持ち込みの営業企画、過去の1st他TVガンダムは系列の名古屋テレビ、大ヒットの恩恵を受けてない局としては仕方ないと言う空気」.
(12) Ueda doesn't specify that this is after the start of broadcast, so it's possible he means three months after the production began.
(13) During this three-month gap, Nagoya TV aired selected episodes of the 1981 series Ulysses 31.
(14) Masanori Ito was the second president of Sunrise. Yamaura succeeded him as president in June 1987, when the company formally changed its name from "Nippon Sunrise."
(15) A Japanese saying which means you can catch another fish where somebody else has already caught one.
Mobile Suit Gundam is copyright © Sotsu • Sunrise. Everything else on this site, and all original text and pictures, are copyright Mark Simmons.