For archival purposes, here is a text version of the old G-FILES from the original Bandai DVD release of the series.

DISC.05

Q1: The relationship between Domon and Master Asia is complicated, isn’t it?

Master tries to initiate Domon into his fellowship. I didn’t explain why he attempted to deceive him, though. The omitted scene in episode 12 starts with Domon greeting Master by saying, “I’ve been longing to see you…” Then, the next cut on the City Hall comes up and Master says something like, “I see, so that’s what happened.” In fact, it is at this point that he hears about Domon’s encounter with the Devil [Dark] Gundam (from episode 6) for the first time. The reunion of these two characters was unexpected and absolutely astonishing to Master, as well as to Domon… At that very moment, their relationship started getting off track. That encounter! It just came out of my mind even at the story board stage! I did it! This feeling I got at this point, it ultimately determined the fate of G Gundam!

It was one of the most important moments within the whole story. Thus, Master says in episode 24, “If you hadn’t appeared in front of me at Shinuku…”, and he says the same thing in episode 45 again. Both of them did not know anything about it at all. It was a huge uncalculated incident. Of course, as a teacher, it is definitely a pleasant moment for him to meet with his student. However, he finds out that his own student is the biggest obstacle to what he is trying to do with Devil [Dark] Gundam. So rather than destroying him, he tries including Domon into his fellowship. He could talk about the previous tournament and other events and reveal all his thoughts to Domon.

However, once he knew Domon’s situation, he can’t talk about it with him, because he knew that, after all, he and Domon would be forced apart. He had no other choice but to figure out another way he could get Domon to join him.

The scene where Domon explains everything to Master Asia is the scene that was cut, because it posed a big problem. If we depicted that scene, Master’s facial expression would have to gradually change as he listens to Domon. However, we didn’t want to give away one aspect of the story too early on.

With G Gundam, there was a relatively large amount of detailed production meetings since this program was aimed at children. However, in this one instance, I didn’t provide them with an explanation of Master’s plan until the very end of the series. I thought it was appropriate. And I thought Master’s bitterness at the scene was going to be enough.

Q2: Is the name Schwarz Bruder taken from Die Schwarze Bruder (The Black Brothers), the original title of [the book] Romeo’s Blue Skies?

It was an absolute coincidence; nothing more. When I was working on naming the character, I had Literature Coordinator Hiroaki Kitajima collect general names from all over the world, and also words appropriate to the story. I made names out of these words. In a way, I did not really care about the characters’ names. Maybe Saette was the only character that I put some effort into naming, I guess. Since the Schwarz character was originally envisioned as a copy of the hero’s brother, I thought of the word “bruder,” which meant brother. And then shadow. The word “schwarz” means “shadow” as well as “black.” At that time, there was another candidate for the name, which was “Mirage.” It means mirror, and further, a shadow reflected on the mirror… So, there were some candidates like Schwarz Mirage. As for why Schwarz Bruder was chosen: first of all, I was sort of ignorant, but it sounded just like a name. Besides, I thought the name perfectly fit the character and his background. The word “mirage” came up as an alternative idea out of “the shadow reflected in a mirror,” the line that he said in episode 44. The mirror was an important concept as well.

Q3: Then, is there no model for the Schwarz Bruder character? He is extremely unique.

There is none. He is a mere ninja after all. If I had a chance to do another Gundam title, there was a book that I was reading as a reference that I would adapt. There is a manga called G no Kagenin (Gundam Ninja). If I was to do another Gundam, I would like to do that one. That one is my world. I really want to do that. That is, I don’t really care about the original Mobile Suit Gundam, I don’t care about the sequential general Gundam titles either. However, if I had a chance to work on G no Kagenin, I would not hesitate to work on a war story Gundam. Of course, I suspect that an offer to work on Gundam will never come to me again. (laughs)

Anyway, I just wanted to put a ninja in the story. Each character has skills that express their nation’s characteristics, right? In that sense, when asked about what would be for Germany, I remembered there was something like wrestling in Germany. However, after looking into it, it wasn’t very remarkable after all. And we already had Chibodee use boxing, which is an orthodox sport. As for wrestling, that would obviously go to Argo. So, I wanted something different for Schwarz. Since he was the character introduced last, I wanted him to be the unique one. So, I thought there was nothing else but ninja… I suppose people would say, “Since when does Germany have ninja?” and I would say, “That doesn’t matter, it’s German ninpoh (ninja skills)!”, and if they counterattack saying, “Is there such a thing!?” then, I would go ahead and say, “Yeah!” (laughs) I decided to push and say that everything is possible if I say it is in G Gundam. If we say “German Ninpoh,” it sounds believable, even though we know there is no such thing.

One thing I really wanted to do was a “fake” ninja! Nothing like the real ninja that we Japanese know, I wanted to create a stereotype, a parody that American people would imagine. A fake ninja which would make Japanese people think, “There is no way we would do such a foolish thing. No Japanese people would think that guy is really a ninja!” I really wanted to depict a ninja that all Japanese people would think, “Whoa, that’s so fake!” So, if there would be a model for the character, I would dare say it was American ninja movies.

Q4: The stage shifts from Shinjuku to Guyana Highlands, but why Guyana?

Well, the reason the stage changed to Shinjuku in the first place was that it was going to be too hard on the background artists and setting designers if we kept changing countries every episode. (laughs) And I was constantly bringing in films and saying “let’s use this part here” and “how about that?” So a request was made to me to restrict the stage to one main location. (laughs) I was asked to have these Gundams travel the world, and then they ask me to keep them in one place?

We shifted to Guyana after Shinjuku because this time they complained that Shinjuku was too much for them. They claimed, “When it comes to Shinjuku, you over-elaborate. Please make it easier. Either desert or dense forest.” I wanted a dense forest so we used Guyana, and I decided to unite the final part of the story in Hong Kong. (laughs) Ah, such behind-the-scenes stories…

During the planning stage of a previous anime project that I later became unable to work on, I had the idea of using Guyana as a reference. So I remembered it could be used as a dense forest setting. And we needed a location that would be easy by that point in time. (laughs)

DISC.06

Q1: Until seeing Domon training in Guyana, it was hard to imagine that Domon and Master were fighters from the same school.

Right. Their styles are totally different. However, there’s a reason behind this. There was an idea to have Domon use the cloth as a weapon, but because I wanted to give the Master Asia character greater impact, I wanted him to have something we hadn’t shown before. Also, he should do something that Domon and the others had never tried to do before. I thought this would result in a huge difference between the two characters and wondered if it would be okay.

In other words, if Master behaved the same as Domon, it would be hard to differentiate him as a character. So, even though they were from the same school, I decided to have Master Asia exhibit different skills on screen. He may of course be striking the same poses as Domon when the camera isn’t on him, though. (laughs)

As for Domon, he had his own style since the first episode, so l decided to leave it that way. Specifically, if I started making their motions the same, I would have to create the forms for each school, and that would have been really hard on the animation staff. I wanted them, instead, to use their own imaginations, so I left it all to them that if it looked good in the scene, it was fine. As a result, the School of Toho Fuhai is a school without form! It’s a school with expedient forms of fighting, just like my direction is full of ad-libs! (laughs) In fact, the only one who required a form was Sai Saici of the Shaolin Temple.

Q2: Episode 23 is especially impressive, but why does Shining Gundam’s body glow gold as it converts to Super Mode?

Back in episode 6, we had Shining Gundam glow for the first time, but it was just a visual expression. As for why I chose gold, Shining Gundam transforms from normal mode to battle mode and finally into super mode. I wondered if people could tell the difference, since the transformation was not visually striking. When I was doing the storyboards for episodes 1-5, I thought, “Is that all there is to this transformation? Is it just opening its mouth?” Even though the arm cover is shifted up, its shape doesn’t really change much at all. It really didn’t change much during the transformation stage. I’m not blaming the toys, but I just thought the Gundam didn’t really change its overall image when it transformed into Super Mode.

And for episode 6, it was a problem. I was afraid the transformation wasn’t going to be dramatic enough to hold the attention of the kids. That’s why I changed the color so drastically. After all, I really want the kids to buy and love the toys of the animation that I’m working on…

Honestly, though, the reason why it was gold… I’d say it came from “Gold Saint.” The Armored Saint figures from Saint Seiya were selling really well at the time. I thought if they were gold, it would be cool and kids would want to have them. However, what I did not want was to make Domon look like a Super Sayajin (from Dragonball Z), which is why Domon himself is red. Actually, if you ask me why Domon is red and the exterior is gold, I would reply that it’s because he is still “bad” Domon. Red is an expression of his anger. As the story progresses, we learn that Domon will become one with the Gundam and eventually shine gold as well. So I wanted to really show the process that Domon undergoes. In episode 6, the Gundam takes its strongest form, but Domon follows much later and only achieves his personal strongest form in episode 23. Gold is useful for this expression and it looks great as well. I wanted to make something that kids would immediately see and think was cool.

Q3: So why doesn’t Shining Gundam get infected by the DG Cells when Master Gundam’s arm strikes it in the stomach? (episode 24)

This is a pretty simple answer. Only the Devil [Dark] Gundam can infect others. I wanted to use this scene to reveal that fact.

Q4: The picture composition of God [Burning] Gundam holding up Shining Gundam in its arms bears close resemblance to the relationship between Mazinger Z and Great Mazinger. (episode 24)

People often tell me something like, “That’s the royal road of Robot Anime!!” However, I can’t help thinking that I haven’t seen such a picture before in my life. Is this picture my original or a parody of other title? I am curious about this issue as well. I knew Mazinger Z and did not necessarily dislike it. To a certain degree, I was watching it, too. However, I don’t have that much passion for it, unlike those who love the traditional robot animes and shout, “Oh, this must be from Mazinger Z!” It’s the same way I feel about Mobile Suit Gundam. There is no way I consciously used anything from Mazinger Z. But I am now so curious what it was after all.

That image just emerged in my mind out of nowhere. So even though someone points out a supposed similarity, I can hardly remember anything like a scene of Mazinger Z picking up Great Mazinger in its arms. I thought I could create a picture of the dream that everybody knows: a conceptual image of a man holding up a woman. The Shining Gundam at the time was actually Rain. There was a neat flow to the story up to that point. But it may have been too subtle; I’m not really confident about whether or not I expressed it well enough…

People might think it is funny to hear this, but I am not good at depicting female characters. Rather, I rarely think of depicting a woman when I do directing. So, I haven’t done a romantic story until now, have I? The programs that I work on are always filled with old guys and consequently they turned to worlds of men. The only type of female characters that I can like is widow characters, and I get so excited when a widow or someone like that appears in episodes (laughs). I have never written a “normal” relationship of man and woman in my life. To be honest with you, G Gundam is… a love story. I thought this was finally revealed in the final episode. So, my purpose of doing G Gundam was to examine a love story. However, maybe because I’m not good at doing this it just turned out this way eventually.

Of all the episodes, I thought that episode 24 was where this concept came across the best. I was unable to write the tale of a man and woman throughout the series, so I wanted to use the robots. I believe that, when we talk about a love story, it doesn’t necessarily have to be one where a man and woman kiss. I wanted people to be able to sense the mental bonding, the quieter aspects of love, even though it was depicted with robots… The reason why I loved the scene was that Shining Gundam looked just so feminine, even though it was a Gundam that had been piloted by a man and had fought like a tiger…

DISC.07

Q1: This is something I forgot to ask previously. The Four Kings interfered with God [Burning] Gundam, who was heading towards Neo Hong Kong in episode 24. Was Master Gundam really riding Fuun Saiki at that time?

Yes, it was. We should be able to see it if we look at the key animation illustrations. If we can’t find it, I’m scared it might be a problem later (laughs). We should be able to see it when Fuun Saiki crashes into God Gundam.

Q2: I double-checked that scene, and I saw something like a black cluster. However, it did not look like a human-shaped robot at all…

Come on, can’t you tell that the Gundam was still being repaired by the DG Cells? (laughs) Personally, I really love that scene, since a very good animator enthusiastically drew it for me. The Four Kings would become five if we add Fuun Saiki, but until Domon starts riding it, we count Master Gundam and Fuun Saiki as one. That is, I wanted people to assume Master Gundam is there if they see Fuun Saiki. Support machines are counted as part of the main mecha, after all. This is where Fuun Saiki appears onscreen for the first time. However, I expected people to understand the premise when they saw the following scenes.

Q3: And also this would be related to the question above, but is that Walter Gundam the real one? If so, who was piloting it?

That is the authentic Walter Gundam. Neros Gundam and John Bull [Royal] Gundam are the transformation of the Four Kings. Thus, there was no problem with having Nobel [Noble] Gundam reappear as Nobel Gundam later.

Q4: Then, nobody is riding it?

Exactly. Gundam Heaven’s Sword [Raven Gundam] and Grand Gundam are not piloted by anyone either. The fighters are already in Neo Hong Kong at the time. Besides, the questions would arise about issues like when Master brought Chapman back to life and helped Michelo out of jail either through legal channels or breaking him out. Whatever happened, both Chapman and Michelo must have visited the Guyana Highlands with Master, right? I have a different interpretation: Master had a premonition, got Michelo and Chapman to join him earlier, and sent them on to Hong Kong ahead of him. That is why we can believe that when the Four Kings attack Domon, they have no pilots. On the other hand, I wanted people to believe that Michelo and Chapman reappeared and attacked Domon. The one certain thing is that the Four Kings transformed themselves and were disguised as those Gundams respectively.

Q5: Wong Yunfat appears in the series from the episode 25. Why does the character, whose name simply takes parts from both Wong Fei-Fong and Chow Yun-Fat, have to be an antagonist? I suppose the original model of the character in visual aspect is Chow Yun-Fat in God of Gamblers, right?

That he eats a lot of chocolate is surely derived from God of Gamblers (a 1989 film starring Chow Yun-Fat). I could not make it too drastic, though. I wish I could more thoroughly depict Wong’s personality. There is a scene that I was unable to check personally, and in the scene, he drinks a glass of wine. In addition, his costume of a coat and a pair of round sunglasses is what I wear in winter (laughs).

When I was working on the character settings for Wong, I heard that everyone imagined the Neo Hong Kong Prime Minister character would be an old guy or an obviously evil governor as they read the scenario. I was afraid it would be too typical and boring if I had an old man allied with another old man, but I couldn’t think of any other sort of weirdo character. Wong Yunfat’s character was created as a figure that would be interesting if it was partnered with Master Asia.

I did not want to use a typical Hong Kong Chinese name when I was naming the character. I chose names that were not too difficult to remember. In fact, Wong’s “let them eat cake” personality is derived from certain anti-heroic figures in my favorite manga comics by Ms. Kumi Morikawa, like Nankyohji ni Hanafubuki (Blossom Shower in Nankyo Street) and Soshu Yakyoku (Soshu Nocturne). Speaking of where Yunfat is from, to be honest with you, I really, really love Chow Yun-Fat (laughs). What I wanted to do with this character was to express how cool Chow Yun-Fat was, and depict his smiling, baby-faced expression. This was not just from his facial features; I wanted to have some childishness remain in his gestures and personality. I wanted to experiment with this depiction of emotional expression in Wong Yunfat’s childishness.

Within the realm of G Gundam, I was planning to do things that I had never done, or never wanted to try before. One example is using obvious parodies, like the name Toho Fuhai (Undefeated of the East). Although I could have thought of thoroughly unique things, I was confident we could provide equal impact by using names from other works. So, this time, I decided to experiment with something very geeky and self-satisfactory. To be honest with you, I even wanted to name the character Chow Yun-Fat, rather than Wong Yunfat (laughs), but I could not do that since it would be too obvious…

Q6: By the way, the Neo Hong Kong colony has never appeared on screen, has it?

That’s right. In fact, Neo Hong Kong does not possess its own colony. At the beginning, it was planned to be that Hong Kong was attempting to move into space by winning the thirteenth tournament.

Q7: Then, I can understand why those from Hong Kong are not obsequious like the other foreign people left on the Earth. Of course, it may be due to their national pride, though…

Yes. There were some portions of the program where I wanted to depict the characteristics of nations. Besides, I wanted to show that people from Neo Hong Kong were proud of living on Earth. But first, there is the question of why such a guy is ruler of this country. Well, in fact, Wong was the only person who could successfully help Neo Hong Kong thrive on the declined Earth. It may be due to his economical tactics, or his governmental direction. In all ways, the one who rebuilt the country of Neo Hong Kong was Wong Yunfat.

I’m pretty sure that I am revealing untold facts, story elements, events, and the factors that I could not write in the series. Of course, these could be read as mere excuses in a way (laughs). I have no intention of turning the story upside down. I believe this sort of information is nothing more than suggestions, and that it would be more interesting if you think of things in this and that way.

Q8: So, do you mean your comments here are nothing more than just preliminary background material? By the way, there are a lot of one-shot guest characters since the series has come to the Neo Hong Kong chapter. Do those characters have their own backgrounds just like those at the beginning?

There are almost no settings for what kind of lives the characters had. As for their characteristics, it is nothing more than a great mass of weirdoes (laughs). I really love that. The fun part of confrontation stories lies in how much impact the enemy characters have in relation to the strength of the hero, and how the protagonist defeats the strong enemy, who has something the hero doesn’t. You know, G Gundam is not a jockey-spirit story. I believe a jockey-spirit story shouldn’t follow the one-shot-episode pattern, but rather a long-term trail of the hero’s development and improvement. With a confrontation story, I believe it isn’t fun unless a totally different or even opposite character is matched against the hero. Besides, if I had to develop personal histories for each character, it would turn to a mere repetition of what I’ve been doing for the beginning episodes. It would be meaningless if it was done that way.

Content-wise, the story is completely changing its direction. Of course, I am not trying to throw away the drama portion. It is a matter of which side I should set the drama on. This time, by setting Domon at the center of each drama, I was aiming to create the straight appeal of a one-shot-episode confrontation story. However, in this case, there are fewer enemies than one would expect. To compensate for this, I decided to make the characters more interesting.

DISC.08

Q1: Don’t Hans and Kyral have more complicated characters than some of the others, like Shijiema and Marcelot?

Their episodes are the ones that temporarily bring back the pattern established in the first half of the series. In the case of episode 29, because Sai Saici is gradually developed just like Domon, I could increase the amount of time given to Hans and Cecile. When Sai Saici displays his well-developed characteristics, the power of his character can be effectively utilized. Thus, I can describe the one displaying the power as well as the moment that he is going to show his power. Of course, this situation is heavily based on the cute girl character Cecile as well. Definitely, Cecile is very significant as a character, too. On the other hand, episode 36 is the story in which Sai Saici comes into his power on his own.

This story is one of my favorites, and is also the one made when I was in Hong Kong for both field research and recording. I completed Part A right before I left Japan, and I was working on the rest on the plane. Just a little, though (laughs). There was one scene that I thought was written well, and that was the scene in which Sai Saici was looking miserable and the three thugs grumble, “It’s too hot for us to work, man.” That scene did not exist at the stage of scenario. The scene did not have to be included, but when I was drafting the storyboards, I realized that there would be only one or two cuts after Cecile said, “I am going to look for him,” until she finds Sai Saici. If she could find him so easily in what seemed to be a short time, it would not look dramatic. And people would wonder what Zuisen and Keiun were doing at the time. I wanted something to create the time lapse, and then I suddenly thought of the three thugs. The passage of time could be automatically depicted if I had the thugs say something at least once; they were the key to the success of the scene. Also, the place where the three thugs were staying was exactly on Sai Saici’s line of sight. Because it was after I did the location hunting in Hong Kong and saw things from Sai Saici’s perspective, I could immediately visualize it. I realized the efficiency and significance of location hunting from this experience.

At that time I had a lot of Hong Kong elements in my head, so I could really enjoy writing the episode (laughs). Regarding the episode with Mermaid Gundam, I had a hard time in many ways from the beginning, and also had some interesting things happening. After all, I am happy with the outcome. It was an episode that everyone enjoyed making together after the Hong Kong chapter started. The most impressive to me was the stall, the store that Sai Saici was cooking at. That stall actually exists, and I was very impressed that we could really do that.

For G Gundam, the background artist worked especially hard, since there were many scenes relying heavily on high-quality backgrounds. I thought Hong Kong could be very well depicted because it could be painted very accurately. It was a picture that brings back the memory of a person who actually went there. In terms of backgrounds, it is extremely risky to have Hong Kong as a stage for TV series. For example, there are so many signs, etc… Places with lots of little details are hard to draw. I am impressed with the background artist doing such a wonderful job in the situation. Thus, the locations of the Rings are rather deserted. Queen’s Road East Ring was for a night match, and we used the billboards and signs as its alternate lightings.

Q2: By the way, Kyral is a blind fighter. That means he does not know what his Gudam looks like, doesn’t it? (episode 28)

You mean, he does not know the design? He knows. Kyral can sense the shapes of things with his spiritual energy. He can perceive the shape using the flow of air when he faces the object (laughs). “Oh, it has such a shape. This should absolutely be my Gundam!” (laughs)

Q3: However, he was riding on a more normally-shaped Gundam in the eleventh tournament, wasn’t he? Besides, Kyral has been killing all the opponent fighters until he had a fight with Domon.

So, it must have been the first time for him to pilot Mandala Gundam in his battle with Domon, right?

Kyral’s default victories officially started after he came to Neo Hong Kong. Before that, he may have killed someone in his sleep (laughs), and he might have fought with somebody. So there is no problem with that interpretation…

Q4: I may sound like I’m repeating myself, but I think the Nether Gundam [Hurricane Gundam]’s design looks a little eccentric…

(Laughs) First of all, regarding Nether Gundam [Hurricane Gundam], I couldn’t keep myself from giggling. It was about the time that I started thinking about the fascinating aspects of the one-shot-episode fights in Neo Hong Kong, something that I could confidently say, “This is it!!” The first one I created with full confidence was Nether Gundam (laughs). I really love Nether Gundam, especially because it was cowardly hiding (laughs). On the silent and peaceful lush green field, that Gundam suddenly appears. But I wanted to show its transformation in more detail.

Zeus Gundam is the type that I really like. The reason why I had Zeus Gundam in episode 25 was that I wanted to counter the hero with the strongest opponent at the very beginning of the confrontation episodes. I thought doing so would gather more impetus and raise audience interest. If I ask kids about what Gundam would be the strongest, they would definitely answer, “Zeus Gundam.” In Bikkuriman there is a character called Super Zeus, right? I understand the reason why the sticker is so popular, and I was partly borrowing its visibility with the public to a certain degree. After all, I wanted to show kids the strongest character in the simplest way.

Mermaid Gundam and Mandala Gundam are the two main Gundams to me in the last half of the series (laughs). I would list Nether Gundam (Hurricane Gundam) if I was asked to nominate one other Gundam (laughs).

Speaking of Mermaid Gundam, the name was already there at the scenario stage. Of course, nobody had ever imagined such a thing (laughs). When it came time to order the mecha, because setting designer Yoshitaka Kawaguchi said that he was in a hurry, I brought Mr. Kunio Ohkawara’s design to the recording studio. The Gundam was originally an ordinary bipedal-locomotion type. However, it was not what I wanted (laughs). So, we drew it out giggling and saying this would be like this and that. The design that Mr. Ohkawara provided was a fish-man monster. But a mermaid should be cute, with the upper body of a human and lower body of a fish.

Mr. Ohkawara’s was very well designed and interesting. However, I wanted a design with more impact and I wanted to make it more like a mermaid (laughs). I felt badly about asking Mr. Ohkawara to create a new design just because I didn’t like it. The reason why I wanted the Gundam to be designed that way was that the Gundam should be strong in water battles, thus the Gundam should take a shape to work best in the water, so it should be like a fish. I believe if a kid asked me which Gundam is the strongest in the water, I can convince them that this Gundam is the strongest because of its shape. Whatever happens in the future, I think I will not hesitate to do exactly the same sort of things (laughs).

Mandala Gundam is, in fact, where I got the idea for Jester Gundam’s design. The arm is half-moon-shaped, in order to hold a sword or some kind of blade. When I drew it, the shape of its arms reminded me of a clown, so I decided to use that idea for Jester Gundam. After all, I thought Mandala could be attributed to Buddhism, and it reminded me of a temple bell (laughs). Next, I drew a bell, and I was discussing it with Mr. Kawaguchi and giggling, “Let’s be quiet, we’re still doing the af-reco,” and “The head part should have the round thing after all.” This is a nice memory. Mr. Kawaguchi is the person who showed the deepest understanding of G Gundam, in terms of the superficial elements such as designs. Also, when we came to discuss the face, there was something that I wanted to do. I already told the story of Shining Gundam appearing out of a flower [in Volume 1], but actually there was another idea I had for his appearance-with a cloth wrapped around his head. I thought it would have great dramatic impact to have a Gundam like this, where the Gundam takes off the cloth around its head to reveal its face. (laughs) So we used it for Mandala Gundam. To be honest, this had a model as well, Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan, where Khan appears onscreen for the first time. If the battle with God [Burning] Gundam was prolonged, I wanted to do something like a scene of Mandala Gundam peeling off the cloth over its face.

Everyone laughs at Mandala Gundam. No matter how ugly the machine looks, I personally believe that a director is responsible for making it look cool. I mean, the attractiveness of a design and how it appears on screen are different. After Mandala Gundam appears, moves, and fights, it gradually starts looking cool. I mentioned that I was giggling when I was making the designs, but I always start designs from the standpoint of how the subject moves. First I try to draw it very arbitrarily, and then I create their postures. This Gundam has something very unique, that no other Gundams have. I really am very fond of it. It has a great impact, doesn’t it? People might have wondered if such a design would really be used, but it was not so comical if we had to imagine Kyral becoming one with the Gundam and fighting with all his might.

There was one thing that I couldn’t help but laugh at, though. When it gets cut in half, I laughed and screamed, “There’s nothing inside!” (laughs) That part was especially comedic. In fact, I was even thinking of adding the sound of a bell being rung, “Dong!” (laughs) But I thought it was interesting in that way, too. I think Mandala Gundam had an instinctive attractiveness, equivalent to that of Kanbi Fujiyama’s stage acting.

Q5: I would like to talk about Shijiema. He pilots the Cobra Gundam on his cobra, but after the separation, the cobra disappears. (Episode 27)

The snake moved down to the cobra portion (laughs). The Gundam has two separate and independent bodies. On the other hand, this is an idea that I could not actually put in practice for Mermaid Gundam, and it is that Gundam’s humanoid form would drift out of the fish mouth of the Mermaid Gundam… (laughs) To be honest, I was even thinking of having fish-man-type Gundams come out as well. Similarly, there would be a water bath in Hans’ cockpit and fishes swim in there (hysterically laughs). Regarding Shijiema, the harmonious relations between him and the snake was a big point. However, Hans did not have a similar relationship with a fish. And Master Asia and Fuun Saiki have a friendship stemming from their master-follower relationship. So, Shijiema has a friendship with the snake. In the case of Hans, he had to interact with Cecile and Sai Saici, so there was no time to depict his friendship with fish. Personally, I wanted to make him hold a fish in his arms, ride on a fish, or something like that (laughs).

Q6: What is Matador [Toro] Gundam’s grappling technique actually like? When Rain sees this technique, she says “No matter how many times I see it, it looks so great!” (laughs). (Episode 29)

It envelops the opponent, like a bullfighter’s… (laughs) That “No matter how many times I see it, it looks so great!” was partly done on purpose, though… It seems to be attributed to a weird habit of mine. I was doing the line seriously. However, people would say it looks weird (laughs). But within the G Gundam world, it was Matador Gundam’s knockdown weapon. The technique sure is great. Regardless of whether it is an effective finishing blow, it always looks impressive. Perhaps, something like a heat-source formation creates a magnetic field and flies over the opponent…

Q7: (laughs). So, we just let everyone imagine the rest…

That is one of the appeals of this work-how to interpret the series.

Q8: Finally, the Four Kings get involved in the story, but “Tenken Zettou” of the Gundam Heaven’s Sword [Raven Gundam] is an original name, isn’t it? Why?

In fact, I feel as if I saw something like this recently. I have not confirmed it, but I do not remember any film with that title. When I created it I felt certain that it was original, but there are certain occasions where I suddenly remember something after a while and am very surprised. So, to be honest with you, I am sort of anxious about saying it was an original idea.