Maison Ikkoku Director GuideBy Dylan AcresBecause of its short length in comparision to other Takahashi anime Maison Ikkoku benefits from a highly consistent appearance. The fact that the series only had nine animation directors, two of whom directed over half the series between them, also gave the series a unified design. One of the major changes that takes place in the course of the series is the departure of character designers Yuji Moriyama after 26 episodes. He was replaced with Urusei Yatsura character designer Akemi Takada. Tsukasa Dokite (土器手司) (Episodes directed: 5)  Dokite uses very strong, clean dark lines in his animation. His draftsmanship produces a very crisp animation quality. You can recognize Dokite's unique button noses in the episodes he worked on. He was a key figure in the Kazuo Yamazaki era of Urusei Yatsura after the departure of Mamoru Oshii, and he then followed Yamazaki to Maison Ikkoku. He has been with Sunrise for quite some time and consequently been involved in a number of Gundam projects over the decades. He also worked on Project A-ko and Dirty Pair. [1] [2] Keiko Hattori (服部圭子) (Episodes directed: 10)  Her character's faces are curvier in closeups, but hew more closely to Moriyama's designs in wider shots. It is in the closeups that the viewer can really see Hattori's personal style as the faces are curvier, and her depiction of hair consists of larger, poofier strands. The animation style is extremely consistent throughout her episodes, and everything flows smoothly. Her other work includes key animation on the Masamune Shirow OVA series Dominion: Tank Police (ドミニオン), in-between animation on Super Dimensional Fortress Macross (超時空要塞マクロス) and animation direction on Yadamon: Magical Dreamer (ヤダモン). [3] Masaaki Kannan (河南正昭) (Episodes directed: 27)  Kannan directed the very first episode of Maison Ikkoku and had previously contributed to Urusei Yatsura. At first he was stayed stylistically close to Yuji Moriyama's character designs, for example, the male characters eyes were drawn with Moriyama's design of very small pupils. After Moriyama left the series with episode 26 Akemi Takada became the new character designer and Masaaki's work looked more like her designs. Masaaki uses very expressive faces with great displays of emotion. He uses a lot of closeups in order to display his expressive faces. Even working with two seperate character designers Masaaki's female characters retain a similar quality in their eyes; two shines in the eye, one large one small. Masaaki is an incredibly talented at interpreting the designs he is given, and stays very true to the character designers original vision. Additionally he provided character designs for the classic culinary anime Oishinbo (美味しんぼ) and Kenshi Hirokane's Hello Hedgehog (ハロー張りネズミ) (released in English as Domain of Murder). [4] [5] Atsuko Nakajima (中島敦子) (Episodes directed: 25)  One of the most popular character designers working in anime is Atsuko Nakajima. Nakajima began to employ more closeups as the series progressed. Even though she is best known for Ranma 1/2, Maison Ikkoku is where Nakajima really honed her talent (and as a bonus she did some key animation on Inuyasha The Movie 4: Fire on the Mystic Island). Very expressive use of lines in the face, particularly under the eyes to convey emotions. When a fan of Maison Ikkoku envisions a character from the series, it is likely Nakajima's look that comes to mind because of the high number of episodes she directed in her unique style. Additionally she is the animation director for a single episode of Urusei Yatsura, episode 192 "Come Quickly, Darling! Lum's Dangerous Marriage Talk". [6] [7] Hiroshi Ogawa (小川博司) (Episodes directed: 6)  Ogawa's characters have larger whites of the eyes which conveys a lack of emotions. Kyoko is an exception to this, as her eyes are always depicted with more detail. The colors are a bit washed out in his episodes. Ogawa's faces slightly longer and more narrow although he is very good with profile shots and much better with facial details in closeups. While the animation quality is high, the subtle changes that Ogawa uses in his designs aren't to my personal taste. If I had to choose a least favorite it would be him. Ogawa was the chief animation director and character designer on both Gatapichi (ガタピシ) and Dororonpa! (どろろんぱっ!) as well as a extensive involvement on Lupin III: Part 3 (ルパン三世PARTIII) and Crayon Shin-chan (クレヨンしんちゃん). [8] [9] Ryunosuke Otonashi (音無竜之介) (Episodes directed: 12)  Without a doubt Ryunosuke Otonashi is one of my all time favorite animation directors. You can always tell when you're watching an episode he worked on as his characters have very rounded, large, wide eyes, not as oval-shaped as other directors draw their eyes. His characters all appear to have cute, younger looking faces. His designs are a bit more cartoonish than some of the other designers but the animation is always high quality and his designs are almost OVA like. He took his screen name from Kyoko Otonashi and Ryunosuke Fujinami of Urusei Yatsura fame (his real name is Naohito Takahashi [高橋ナオヒト]). [10] Under this alias he animation directed episodes of Touch, animated Gu Gu Ganmo (Gu-Guガンモ) and the 1985 GeGeGe no Kitaro (ゲゲゲの鬼太郎). [11] Keizo Shimizu (清水恵蔵) (Episodes directed: 2)  Shimizu's episodes have an above average animation style. He is very faithful to the character designs. It is difficult to discern a style unique unto himself, which is probably a good thing. He has a very consistent style, but at the same time delivers a high level of quality to all the characters, both male and female, main characters and supporting ones. For example Akemi is as well done as Kyoko. As the series progresses his character designs reflect the maturity of the characters. He was the character designer for the very stylish mahjong anime Mahjong Hishouden: Naki no Ryuu (麻雀飛翔伝 哭きの竜) and Mad Bull 34 and the 2010 Cobra: The Animation. He was also a layout supervisor for Urusei Yatsura: The Final Chapter as well. [12] Shunji Suzuki (鈴木俊二) (Episodes directed: 6)  Even though he came to Maison Ikkoku very late in the series and only directed six episodes, Suzuki brought a very polished, fluid style. His designs fall somewhere between the faithful designs of Masaaki Kannan and the unique depictions of Ryunosuke Otonashi's style. He was the chief animation director on Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone (ヱヴァンゲリヲン新劇場版:序) (and much of the television series), he handled key animation for Ranma 1/2 Nettohen episode 9 "P-chan Explodes! The Icy Fountain of Love" as well as playing a number of roles in the production of Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water (ふしぎの海のナディア). He worked on a number of excellent anime including Macross Plus (マクロスプラス), Roujin Z (老人Z) and Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo ( 巌窟王). [13] [14] Kiichi Takaoka (高岡希一) (Episodes directed: 3)  Takaoka's characters have less rounded faces, more angular/rectangular/narrow, even in profile. It could be said that his profiles are more realistic. His episodes have a high animation quality throughout the entire series. Takaoka's characters have very good detail in the eyes in closeup, but sometimes in shots where there is no animation or very little animation, the designs are slightly lessened. Because he directed so few episodes and his designs deviate from the other animation directors so much Takaoka's episodes tend to stand out more. He isn't bad by any means, but because his work appears so infrequently he isn't one of my top animation directors. He handled in-between animation on Urusei Yatsura episode 63 "Ryunosuke Arrives! I Love the Sea!", in-between animation on Only You and I Howl At the Moon. Beyond Takahashi projects he did key animation on Appleseed (アップル・シード), assistant animation direction on Dominion: Tank Police (ドミニオン) and animation direction Please Save My Earth (ぼくの地球を守って) and Golden Boy (ゴールデンボーイ). [15] [16] |
Footnotes
- [1] "Tsukasa Dokite." Sakugabooru. Accessed November 6, 2022. https://www.sakugabooru.com/ post?tags=tsukasa_dokite+.
- [2] "Dokite Tsukasa." AniDB.net. May 27, 2016. Accessed November 6, 2022. https://anidb.net/creator/3722.
- [3] "Hattori Keiko." AniDB.net. November 11, 2022. Accessed November 6, 2022. https://anidb.net/creator/virtual/2157.
- [4] "Kannan Masaaki." AniDB.net. November 16, 2021. Accessed November 7, 2022. https://anidb.net/creator/5503.
- [5] "Masaaki Kannan." Sakugabooru. Accessed November 7, 2022. https://www.sakugabooru.com/ post?tags=masaaki_kannan+.
- [6] "Atsuko Nakajima." Sakugabooru. Accessed November 11, 2022. https://www.sakugabooru.com/ post?tags=atsuko_nakajima+.
- [7] "Nakajima Atsuko." AniDB.net. February 13, 2015. Accessed November 11, 2022. https://anidb.net/creator/1419.
- [8] "Hiroshi Ogawa." Sakugabooru. Accessed November 12, 2022. https://www.sakugabooru.com/ post?tags=hiroshi_ogawa+.
- [9] "Ogawa Hiroshi." AniDB.net. August 9, 2013. Accessed November 12, 2022. https://anidb.net/creator/12200.
- [10] "Otonashi Ryuunosuke." AniDB.net. October 22, 2021. Accessed November 12, 2022. https://anidb.net/creator/6119.
- [11] "Naohito Takahashi." Sakugabooru. Accessed November 12, 2022. https://www.sakugabooru.com/ post?tags=naohito_takahashi+.
- [12] "Shimizu Keizou." AniDB.net. February 20, 2022. Accessed November 12, 2022. https://anidb.net/creator/4506.
- [13] "Shunji Suzuki." Sakugabooru. Accessed November 12, 2022. https://www.sakugabooru.com/ post?tags=shunji_suzuki+.
- [14] "Suzuki Shunji." AniDB.net. March 19, 2009. Accessed November 12, 2022. https://anidb.net/creator/2158.
- [15] "Takaoka Kiichi." AniDB.net. June 8, 2012. Accessed November 12, 2022. https://anidb.net/creator/14475.
- [16] "高岡希一." Atwiki.jp. July 9, 2022. Accessed November 12, 2022. https://w.atwiki.jp/sakuga/pages/1533.html.
Dylan Acres is a psychologist and college professor. Alongside his brother, Harley Acres, they have written extensive analyses on each of the animation directors of all of Rumiko Takahashi's anime adaptations including Urusei Yatsura, Ranma 1/2, Inuyasha and Yashahime, and Kyokai no RINNE.
