Production Reference:
Mobile Suit Gundam I • II • III Special Collection
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Translator's Note: This essay by Mobile Suit Gundam character designer and animation director Yoshikazu Yasuhiko appeared in the Animedia special issue Mobile Suit Gundam I • II • III Special Collection, published by Gakken in April 1982. Though fairly brief, it provides some insight into the circumstances surrounding Yasuhiko's sudden hospitalization towards the end of the production, and his feelings about being unable to complete his work on the series.

Yasuhiko's collapse took place on October 7, 1979, and he remained in hospital for roughly five months. After the following essay translation, I've added a supplemental note regarding the timing and production credits for the last part of the series.

The following text is copyright © 1982 Gakken.

ANIMATION DIRECTOR
YOSHIKAZU YASUHIKO

As the sole animation director on the Gundam TV series, it would have been physically impossible for me to properly correct the episodes to my own satisfaction every week. Thus, I decided that my general rule should be to fix one out of every two episodes myself, and leave the rest of the work to relatively reliable people. But around episode 33, when there were just ten episodes remaining, I thought I'd try to correct two out of every three episodes in a so-called "last spurt." It was just as I'd started this last spurt that I fell ill...

I started after skipping one episode, and then I planned to supervise the consecutive episodes 33, 34, 35, and 36 myself. These were all episodes that I took an interest in after seeing the storyboards. Since I hadn't seen the storyboards for episodes 37 onward, it wasn't so true of them, but I was strongly attached to the episodes up to 36... I wanted to do those. I also felt strongly about the final episodes, since I intended to supervise those myself no matter what.

It's terribly unfair to the people who did the job in the meantime. But, during the roughly two years from when I fell ill and left the majority of episodes 33 and 34 undone, to when we started animating the new Gundam III, I felt like it didn't exist.

This time, I'm doing everything up to the last scene and last cut after all, so in that sense it's a great relief. But it doesn't mean I did everything, and I still wish I could do it all, if that were only possible.

Before I fell ill, although there wasn't a script, I knew how the last scene ended from reading Mr. Tomino's story memo. I thought that was a good way to end it. I'd thought that Gundam was a story that could only have a dark conclusion, but wrapping that dark conclusion in a happy ending was a very nice way to end it, and I thought it would give the viewers a feeling of relief. If anything, I myself came away with a dark impression, but I think after this Amuro and the White Base crew will be abandoned, in both good and bad ways. Thinking about their way of life from here on, I don't believe they'll be able to live very cheerful lives.

Translator's Note: To illustrate the production situation Yasuhiko is describing, here are the main staff credits for the second half of the Mobile Suit Gundam TV series. "Minoru Yokitani" is an alias for chief director Yoshiyuki Tomino, who storyboarded the majority of these episodes. And yes, aside from Yasuhiko himself, all three of the other animation directors on these episodes have the same first name.

Note that there are no official animation director credits for episode 34-36 and 38-41. In the essay above, Yasuhiko says that he was supervising episode 33 himself prior to his hospitalization, but the animation direction on this episode—as well as episodes 37 and 42—is credited to Kazuo Nakamura.

Nakamura actually had—and still has—his own animation production company, Nakamura Production, and in all of his Gundam episodes he was supervising the work of his own staff. In other words, the animation of these episodes was effectively outsourced to Nakamura Production, so it's possible that Yasuhiko may be misremembering. In other accounts by Yasuhiko and others, we're told that he was working on episode 34 when he fell ill.

Episode	Subtitle	Script	Storyboards	Episode Director	Animation Director	Air Date
22	Break the Siege of M'Quve!	Kenichi Matsuzaki	Shinya Sadamitsu	Shinya Sadamitsu	Yoshikazu Yasuhiko	September 1, 1979
23	Matilda Rescue Operation	Hiroyuki Hoshiyama	Ryoji Fujiwara	Ryoji Fujiwara	Kazuo Nakamura	September 8, 1979
24	Triple Dom Pursuit	Yuu Yamamoto	Minoru Yokitani	Osamu Sekita	Yoshikazu Yasuhiko	September 15, 1979
25	Fierce Battle at Odessa	Yoshihisa Araki	Shinya Sadamitsu	Shinya Sadamitsu	Kazuo Tomizawa	September 22, 1979
26	Char Returns	Kenichi Matsuzaki	Minoru Yokitani	Ryoji Fujiwara	Yoshikazu Yasuhiko	September 29, 1979
27	A Female Spy on Board	Hiroyuki Hoshiyama	Minoru Yokitani Hiroshi Kuno	Hiroshi Kuno	Kazuo Yamazaki	October 6, 1979
28	The Atlantic Dyed in Blood	Yuu Yamamoto	Minoru Yokitani	Osamu Sekita	Kazuo Nakamura	October 13, 1979
29	Fallen in Jaburo	Yoshihisa Araki	Minoru Yokitani	Shinya Sadamitsu	Yoshikazu Yasuhiko	October 20, 1979
30	A Small Defense Line	Yuu Yamamoto	Ryoji Fujiwara	Ryoji Fujiwara	Yoshikazu Yasuhiko	October 27, 1979
31	Zanzibar Pursuit	Hiroyuki Hoshiyama	Minoru Yokitani	Hiroshi Kuno	Yoshikazu Yasuhiko	November 3, 1979
32	Breakthrough Operation	Kenichi Matsuzaki	Minoru Yokitani	Osamu Sekita	Kazuo Tomizawa	November 10, 1979
33	Conscon's Assault	Yuu Yamamoto	Minoru Yokitani	Shinya Sadamitsu	Kazuo Nakamura	November 17, 1979
34	A Fateful Encounter	Hiroyuki Hoshiyama	Ryoji Fujiwara	Ryoji Fujiwara	—	November 24, 1979
35	The Battle of Solomon	Kenichi Matsuzaki	Hiroshi Kuno	Hiroshi Kuno	—	December 1, 1979
36	Terror of the Byg-Zam	Kenichi Matsuzaki	Minoru Yokitani	Osamu Sekita	—	December 8, 1979
37	The Duel in Texas	Yuu Yamamoto	Minoru Yokitani	Shinya Sadamitsu	Kazuo Nakamura	December 15, 1979
38	Char and Sayla Reunited	Kenichi Matsuzaki	Ryoji Fujiwara	Ryoji Fujiwara	—	December 22, 1979
39	The Newtype Challia Bull	Yuu Yamamoto	Minoru Yokitani	Hiroshi Kuno	—	December 29, 1979
40	Elmeth Lalah	Yoshihisa Araki	Minoru Yokitani	Osamu Sekita	—	January 5, 1980
41	A Cosmic Glow	Kenichi Matsuzaki	Shinya Sadamitsu	Shinya Sadamitsu	—	January 12, 1980
42	Space Fortress A Baoa Qu	Hiroyuki Hoshiyama	Minoru Yokitani	Ryoji Fujiwara	Kazuo Nakamura	January 19, 1980
43	Escape	Hiroyuki Hoshiyama	Minoru Yokitani	Osamu Sekita	Kazuo Yamazaki	January 26, 1980

Mobile Suit Gundam is copyright © Sotsu • Sunrise. Everything else on this site, and all original text and pictures, are copyright Mark Simmons.